OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- Washington's unemployment rate decreased slightly to 8.5 percent in December - the lowest in nearly three years, state officials said Friday.
The November rate had been 8.7 percent. However the state's Employment Security Department said there was "conflicting data," clouding the overall picture of the state's job market. A survey of Washington businesses also showed an estimated job loss of 10,700 from November to December.
"There is a lot of volatility in the numbers we get from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and one month of numbers isn't enough to gauge what's happening in the job market," Greg Weeks, head of the Employment Security Department's labor-market information office, said in a statement. "If you look at the trend over time, jobs are gradually increasing and the unemployment rate is coming down."
Officials say that between December 2010 and December 2011, overall employment in the state was up by about 29,600 jobs.
December's unemployment rate was the lowest since February 2009, when the unemployment rate was 8.3 percent.
The areas that saw the most growth in December were education and health services, up an estimated 2,200 jobs; manufacturing, up 2,100, including 1,100 in aerospace; and the transportation, warehousing and utilities sector, up 500 jobs.
Job losses happened in professional and business services, down an estimated 4,300 jobs; retail trade, down 3,500, leisure and hospitality, down 3,200; construction, down 1,900; government, down 1,200; and financial activities, down 800. Within the government sector, state agencies cut an estimated 800 jobs, higher education dropped 1,300 jobs, local government added 1,000 jobs.
As of December, about 297,430 people (seasonally adjusted figure) were out of working and seeking a job.
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