The unemployment rate jumped up half a percentage point to 5.7 percent in Pierce County in May, but economists say the jobs picture here remains healthy.

"Historically, it's still a very decent rate," said Employment Security Department regional economist Paul Turek.

"The job market is getting a little thinner, but were still relatively OK," he said.

The present seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate in Pierce County is still substantially under the rate hit during the recession of 1990 and 1991 when local unemployment touched 7.6 percent.

And it's nowhere near the 9 percent Pierce County experienced in 2003 after the 9-11 layoffs in the aerospace industry.

Under the old definition of "full employment", 4 percent to 6 percent, the present situation would have been considered a full employment, said Turek.

Under a more modern definition that considers the advantages modern technology gives to job seekers, Pierce County's unemployment rate would be somewhat below the 4 to 5 percent "full employment" range, he said.

Turek said month-to-month changes should be considered in a broader picture.

"We're still doing a pretty good job here, especially considering what's happening in the rest of the country," he said.

While the year-to-year unemployment rate is up in Pierce County from 4.4 percent to 5.7 percent, 7,140 people were employed in Pierce County this May than in May a year ago.

On a statewide seasonally adjusted basis, Washington's unemployment rate at 5.3 percent is still below the nationwide average seasonally adjusted of 5.5 percent.

Both statewide and Pierce County, weakness in the construction industry was a contributor to higher unemployment numbers. Education and health care remain strong.

Sirius Real Estate Group this morning withdrew its bid to buy the vacant 1916 Tacoma Elks Temple, 565 Broadway, according to company spokesman Jim Dugan.

Sirius had until Friday to complete its period of due diligence and determine whether its plans, reconstruction costs and financing would work. But it didn't need that long to decide that it couldn't access the amount of financing necessary to rehab the building in the current market, Dugan said.

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SeaTac's Alaska Airlines tops a new airline satisfaction study by survey firm J.D. Power & Associates.

Alaska, closely followed by Continental Airlines, was rated at the top of the traditional carriers rank in the Power survey of airline customers.

Alaska earned five out of five gold circles in the Power survey in overall satisfaction, flight reservations and scheduling, check-in, aircraft interior, boarding, deplaning and baggage and flight crew categories. The airline won a four of five circles rating in the in-flight services and cost & fees category.

Continental earned five of five circles in the cost and fees, in-flight services and overall satisfaction categories on the Power survey. It ranked four of five in the other areas of the survey.

At the bottom of the survey results in the traditional airline category was United Airlines.

In the low-cost carrier ranks, New York's JetBlue Airways took top honors, followed by Southwest Airlines, Frontier
Airlines and AirTran Airways.

Overall, the survey firm noted, satisfaction with domestic airlines was the lowest in three years.

"The study finds that satisfaction with 'people' factors, including knowledge,courtesy and helpfulness of reservation and gate agents, check-in staff and flight crew, has declined dramatically since 2007 and is the leading contributing factor to the overall decline incustomer satisfaction with airlines in 2008," the survey company said.

Alaska spokesman Paul McElroy said the airline's "genuine, caring employees" were a major factor in the airline's ranking.

Only Alaska and Air Canada among the tradtional carriers improved their rankings this year over 2007.

Employers such as the Transportation Security Administration, Home Depot and Menzies Aviation will be interviewing for new employees at a job fair Saturday at Auburn's SuperMall.

The job fair, sponsored by Goodwill, will be held in the mall's Aviation Court from noon to 3 p.m.

Goodwill advised job seekers to bring resumes and to be prepared to interview for positions.

"Firms partner with Goodwill to help fill a wide variety of jobs," said Terry Hayes, Tacoma Goodwill chief executive officer.

Other employers at the job fair include Tacoma Community College, Walsh Construction, Schwan's and Evans Glass.

For additional information go to Goodwill's Web site, www.tacomagoodwill.org or call Sarah Hawkins at 253-219-4606.

In the face of record high gas prices, several local transit agencies are urging residents to "Dump the Pump" on Thursday and ride public transportation.

Pierce Transit, Sound Transit, Kitsap Transit and King County Metro Transit will join transit agencies across the country to encourage people who have never tried transit to take a ride, according to a news release.

They are also asking regular transit users to leave their vehicles at home and only use transit that day, whether that means hopping the bus or carpooling to work.

The agencies will be handing out "I dumped the pump" stickers to riders. In Pierce County, you can score a sticker between 6:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. at select transit centers that day.

For more commuting options in the region, go here.

A new Lowe's home improvement store has opened in Bonney Lake.

The 102,000-square-foot store at 19911 South Prairie Road East carries some 32,000 items from lumber to lavatories.

Steve Fox, former manager at Lowe's Tacoma store, is the manager at the new east Pierce County branch.

While the store wouldn't disclose exact employment numbers, a typical Lowe's store of that size employs about 120 people, said a news release from Lowe's corporate public relations department.

The location of the big box home improvement store caused some concern in the Bonney Lake community. The store's developer paid for extensive road improvements including several new turn lanes to ensure that traffic congestion would be lessened.

The battle over digital music downloads continues.

Amazon.com said today that it started two new promotions that offer discounts for MP3 purchases at the company's Web site.

"Daily Deals" is updated daily and offers a popular album at a significantly discounted price, according to a news release from the company.

"Friday Five" offers five albums for $5 every Friday and through the weekend, the company says.

First up: Coldplay's earlier albums (the band has a new album "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends").

"X&Y" will be available today for $1.99.

"A Rush of Blood to the Head" will be available on Wednesday for $1.99.

"Parachutes" will be available on Thursday for $1.99.

"Brothers and Sisters" will be offered on Friday for 99 cents.

British Airways is negotiating with Boeing Co. to acquire a dozen Boeing 777-300ERs to help fill a capacity gap left by the anticipated late delivery of its 24 787s.

Flight International reports the 777 deliveries would begin in 2010. The two dozen 787s British has on order will likely be delivered 20 or more months behind schedule.

The 787s scheduled first flight is now 15 months overdue because of supply system issues.

British already operates 41 777s. It's not clear whether BA would retain the 777s once the 787s were delivered.

The 777-300ERs are somewhat larger capacity than the 787s. British has been looking for a larger plane than the 787 to augment its present fleet. It had been evaluating the 777 and Airbus' A350XWB.

Portland International Airport will be losing non-stop service to Mexico City and Guadalajara via Mexicana Airlines.

The two routes are another casualty of the fuel cost crisis beseting airlines.

Mexicana, which began service to Portland in 2004, decided to withdraw from the Oregon airport when it reassessed its routes.

Like many airlines, Mexicana is readjusting its flight schedule to trim out marginal routes in light of fuel prices that have risen as much as 90 percent in the last year.