The North Olympic Peninsula last month saw its largest drop in unemployment since the early 1990s.
Clallam County’s jobless rate dropped from 11.2 percent in March to 9.3 percent in April — the largest decrease since March 1990, said Elizabeth Scott, a regional economist with the state Employment Security Department.
Jefferson County’s unemployment rate fell last month from 10.7 percent to 8.8 percent.
That drop was its largest since April 1994, Scott said.
Neither county had seen single-digit unemployment rates since December.
Scott attributed the drop in April to a seasonal decline in unemployment and a slowly but steadily improving economy.
The state also saw a sharp decline in unemployment.
Its jobless rate fell from 10 percent to 8.7 percent in April.
Recovering, slowly
“To see that drop, it’s kind of keeping us focused on this [being] a very slow recovery — but we are recovering,” Scott said.
Clallam County had 80 more jobs in April, with most of its boost in the manufacturing and service-based sectors, she said.
Jefferson County had about 40 more jobs in April, attributed to hirings in government, natural resource and construction areas and in service-based industry and manufacturing, Scott said.
Also contributing to the counties’ lower jobless rates are the people who are no longer listed as unemployed.
The state considers people no longer unemployed if they get a job, stop looking for employment or find a job outside their county.
In Clallam County, 590 fewer people were listed as unemployed in April.
Jefferson County had 250 fewer people on that list last month.
Even if the number of employed people stays steady or increases, the unemployment rate can increase if more put themselves on the job market once again, Scott said.
Fluctuations will continue
Scott said economists are generally estimating that the recession will last until 2013, and she emphasized that the jobless rate will continue to fluctuate.
Overall, Scott said “things are moving in a positive direction.”
“The one thing we need to pay attention to is construction jobs,” she said.
“The housing issue is one that needs to heal and get better and progress for a full recovery to take place.”
The Employment Security Department lumps construction jobs in with logging and other natural-resource-based industries.
In Clallam County, the number of workers in those fields decreased by 50 last month, Scott said.
But Jefferson County saw 10 more jobs in those occupations, she said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com