Washington Unemployment By County: How Each Region Is Faring

OLYMPIA, WA — Washington's Employment Security Department has released a new snapshot showing how unemployment rates varied by county in November.

November was an interesting month for the state economy: new pandemic restrictions and closures stifled the growth seen over recent months, but losses in the government sector were nearly counteracted with continued growth in the private sector. The ESD found exactly 100 more jobs were added in November, leaving the state with an overall unemployment rate between 5.9 and 6.0 percent.

Now, they've released a more in-depth look at how exactly each county is faring individually.

Here are the counties with the five highest unemployment rates:

1. Grays Harbor County: 9.6%
2. Pacific County: 9.4%
3. Pend Oreille County: 9.0%
4. Mason County: 8.7%
5. Ferry County: 8.2%

Meanwhile, the counties with the lowest unemployment rates include:

1. King County (Tie): 4.3%
2. Asotin County (Tie): 4.3%
3. Snohomish County: 4.8%
4. Whitman County: 5.1%
5. Lincoln County: 5.3%

For comparison, the national unemployment rate for the month of November was 6.7 percent. Washington's unemployment rate for November 2019 was 4.0 percent.

Despite the economy largely stalling in November, there have been some early signs of improvement in December.

According to the latest weekly update from the ESD, while the past week saw nearly double the number of new unemployment claims from the same week in 2019, they saw fewer new claims, ongoing unemployment claims and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims than they had the week before. Economists say the decreases happened for most industries across the board, with particularly high improvement in hospitality, food services, and manufacturing. Conversely, there were about 352 jobs lost in the construction sector.

Depending on how negotiations shake out in Washington D.C., further assistance may be headed to Washington job-seekers. A $900 billion stimulus package recently passed by congress extended Pandemic Unemployment Assistance through march and reupped expanded unemployment benefits that were set to expire by the end of the year.

However, that package is being renegotiated after President Trump announced he was considering vetoing the proposal unless it included an increased $2,000 direct payment to citizens.

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