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Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.
C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.
John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.
Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.
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Pierce County's economy remained lukewarm in April.
"We're not doing badly, but we've done better in the past," said Paul Turek, the Tacoma economist for the state's Employment Security Department.
The county unemployment rate dipped from 5.8 percent in March to 5.3 percent last month.
But at the same time, the labor force – the number of people employed or unemployed and looking for work – shrunk.
That could mean that some job seekers stopped looking for work or that positions are becoming harder to find, Turek said.
The county added 1,100 jobs over the month and 3,300 jobs over the year.
"We had a month comparable to last year's, but last year's numbers weren't great," Turek said.
The construction industry posted the largest year-over-year decline in jobs - down 1,100 since last April.
Government and educational and health services jobs recorded some of the biggest gains, adding 1,900 and 1,500 jobs over the year respectively.
The pace of year-over-year job growth in Pierce County remains below 2 percent, a bit slower than most would like to see.
"When we get below 2 percent growth, though there's jobs being added, they are generally not being added a pace to hire everyone that's looking," Turek said.
And when the county numbers are adjusted for seasonal fluctuations in hiring (to account for things like summer hiring or winter slowdowns), Pierce County actually lost jobs over the month, though still gained jobs over the year.
But, Turek, said it could certainly be worse – and it is worse in many other parts of the country.
"I'm keeping my fingers crossed," he said. "I still think we are going to sidestep a great part of this (national economic slowdown) and hopefully rebound in the second half."
The state reported a mixed bag of employment figures: the unemployment rate dipped as the state lost jobs over the month.
Seasonally adjusted employment decreased by 1,800 people from March to April, though grew by 46,300 over the year.
The jobs loss represents a sliver of total employment in the state, though it is the second consecutive month-over-month decline.
David Wallace, an ESD economist, said there's not enough evidence to suggest the state in is a recession.
The state unemployment rate dipped from 5.2 in March to 4.6 in April. The seasonally adjusted rate was 4.7 percent.
