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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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There's little good news from the state and local employment report for January.
An estimated 303,570 people in Washington were unemployed and looking for work last month - the largest number ever in the state, the state's Employment Security Department reported today.
The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.8 percent, up seven-tenths of a percentage point from December. That ties for the second largest month over month increase since 1976.
The jobles rate hasn't been this high since February 1987 and it's also the first time in three years that the the state surpassed the national jobless, which was 7.6 percent.
Washington highest ever recorded unemployment rate was 12.2 percent in November 1982.
The state unemployment rate is usually provided by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS data was delayed this month due to a computer project, so Employment Security calculated the rate itself.
The state continued to shed jobs, 7,000 over the month and 56,000 since January 2008. Most industries suffered job losses, though the largest declines came from manufacturing, information services, and construction.
Pierce County contributed its fair share to the bleak state situation.
The Tacoma-area reported an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, an increase of two percentage points from the previous month.
Paul Turek, Employment Security regional economist for Tacoma, expected an increase but was skeptical that the county jobless rate actually grew that much over the month.
He said that different computer model the state used this month combined with the fact that the county rates aren't seasonally adjusted may have inflated the rate a bit beyond reality.
Unlike the state rate, the county rate isn't seasonally adjusted to smooth out expected rises and dips in hiring. That makes unadjusted jobless rates more volatile.
"It's not trivial ... but it's sometimes exaggerated," Turek said of the jobless rate increase. "I don't see a good correlation between the information I have and the bounce."
Turek said that as the recession continues, Pierce County could see 9 percent unemployment rates -- but it may not be until later this year.
The county lost 6,900 jobs over the month. That's comparable to the previous January -- near the start of the national recession -- when the county lost 7,300 jobs over the month.
Most industries in Pierce County have been affected, though those providing services account for a bulk of the job losses last month. That includes retail trade positions, professional and business jobs and education and health service jobs.
Chris Green, an economic development specialist with the Economic Development Board of Tacoma Pierce County, said many of the companies the EDB visits are reducing their employee numbers -- even if just by five or ten people.
Mary Ayala, Employment Security's chief economist,said that stabilizing the nation's financial sector is key to stemming the job bleed. If nothing is done there, she added, state unemployment could reach past 12 percent.
Ayala said it's difficult to forecast when a state or national economic recovery might begin. She's looking for a few signs including job growth in the durable goods sector, financial services and construction.
The federal stimulus package will help by providing jobs and granting extended unemployment benefits, she said.
"We will recover, it's just a matter of time," Ayala said.
