Agriculture industry adds 31,000 jobs over 2011 season

BY MAI HOANG
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC 

Robust agricultural job growth, expected this time of the season, contributed to a drop in Yakima County’s unemployment rate last month. 

"Our ag employment (looked) good this June," said Don Meseck, regional economist for the state Employment Security Department, which compiles the numbers.

The county reported an unemployment rate of 9.3 percent last month, nearly a percentage point below the 10 percent rate from June 2011, according to preliminary figures released by the state Employment Security Department on Tuesday.

The county’s rate is still above the state rate of 8.2 percent. The state also reported a seasonally adjusted rate, which accounts for seasonal trends such as holiday hiring, of 8.3 percent. The state doesn’t seasonally adjust county rates.

Last month, about 130,180 Yakima County residents were in the labor force, which includes those employed or looking for work. That’s an increase of 3.7 percent from a year ago. 

The number of residents without jobs dropped by 3.4 percent to 12,100 while the number of employed residents increased by 4.5 percent to 118,080.

According to Employment Security, Yakima and Klickitat counties had 31,330 agricultural jobs last month, an increase of 16.6 percent from the same month a year ago. Nearly all those jobs were in Yakima County.

In contrast, growth in nonagricultural jobs was relatively flat. The county reported 77,300 nonagricultural jobs last month, only a 0.4 percent increase, or 300 more jobs, from a year ago, according to Employment Security. 

Several sectors saw healthy increases, including retail trade with 300 more jobs and transportation and warehousing and professional business services with 100 more jobs each. But those increases were offset by declines in other sectors, including construction, which lost 400 jobs year over year, and government, which lost 500 jobs. 

Revised job figures show that Yakima County’s year-over-year job growth has been 0.5 percent or less every month in the first half of 2012. 

"Our nonfarm growth rate has been consistent, but very slow," Meseck said.

Still, the county is on the right track, he said. 

"To sum it up, there’s more good news than bad," he said. "(But) it’s still a slow recovery."

• Mai Hoang can be reached at 509-759-7851 or at maihoang@yakimaherald.com.

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