Despite Delta, Washington Added 16,800 Jobs Last Month

OLYMPIA, WA — The delta variant is taking a toll on Washington's health care system, but so far the devastation has not spilled on over into the economic sector.

According to the latest data from Washington's Employment Security Department, Washington employers created roughly 16,800 new jobs in August. That's slightly less than the previous two months, which averaged around 25,600 jobs, but continues a trend of incremental improvement — despite the fact that Washington had some of its highest-ever COVID-19 case counts last month.

“August’s job gain numbers were reasonably solid in the face of renewed health concerns,” said Paul Turek, economist for the ESD. “But the uncertainty around the Delta variant is likely to result in an uneven labor market recovery.”

Including the 16,800 new positions, Washington's unemployment rate remains at 5.1 percent — slightly better than the national unemployment rate, which the ESD says was 5.2 percent in August. In August 2020, the national unemployment rate was 8.4 percent. Washington's was worse, at 9.1 percent.

The largest gains last month were in the leisure and hospitality sector, which added roughly 8,500 new positions in August, followed by government (3,800 jobs) and professional and business services (3,400).

New job postings will be critical for job-seekers, many of whom lost pandemic unemployment benefits earlier this month, when the federal government elected not to renew pandemic relief programs. According to the ESD, some 245,345 Washingtonians applied for unemployment during the week ending Sept. 11. 180,372 received benefits, among them 4,860 people who were applying for unemployment for the first time. Economists with the ESD characterize the news as workers "trick[ling] back to the labor force."

The good news does not extend to the constructor or retail trade industries, which lost 1,600 and 1,700 jobs last month, respectively. Also of concern is the health care industry: while education and health services together added roughly 200 jobs in August, staffing shortages at hospitals have health care providers struggling to care for the influx of COVID-19 patients, forcing the Department of Health to intervene and shuffle workers to the hospitals with the greatest demands.