Washington state’s unemployment rate for the month of March dropped to 5.9 percent, on a preliminary, seasonally adjusted basis, according to estimates by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The state unemployment rate was 6.3 percent in February 2015 and 6.3 percent in March 2014.
The March Monthly Employment Report from the state Employment Security Department (ESD) estimates employment increased by 100,900 jobs from March 2014 to March 2015, on a not seasonally adjusted basis, with 88,900 new jobs in the private sector and 12,000 new jobs in the public sector.
“This is good news for Washington,” said state labor economist Paul Turek in a press release. “The state’s economy remains on track with an increasing number of jobs. The number of people in the workforce continues to grow while the number of those unemployed has declined.”
The top five industry sectors with the largest employment gains from March 2014 to March 2015 were:
- Construction (+18,500 jobs)
- Professional and business services +17,700 jobs)
- Education and health services (+13,200 jobs)
- Government (+12,000 jobs)
- Retail trade (+11,900 jobs)
The mining and logging industry lost 400 jobs from March 2014 to March 2015.
