PORT ANGELES — A slow but steady economic recovery lowered unemployment by a half-percent on the North Olympic Peninsula last month, a regional economist said.
Buoyed by 150 new jobs spread out in the private sector, Clallam County’s unemployment rate fell from a revised 9.8 percent in May to 9.3 percent in June, according to data released by the state Employment Security Department on Thursday.
Jefferson County added 100 private sector jobs and saw its unemployment rate fall from 9.1 percent in May to 8.6 percent in June.
There were 2,750 unemployed job-seekers last month in Clallam County, which has a work force of 29,670.
There were 1,110 people looking for work in Jefferson County’s 12,940-member labor force.
“Jobs are coming back, but they’re coming back slowly,” said Elizabeth Scott, regional economist with the Employment Security Department Olympic Consortium.
“I don’t believe we’re going to have a double-dip recession.”
Scott predicted a slow recovery driven locally by the housing market, which is being hit hard by a second wave of home foreclosures.
The region’s strong wood products industry is well-positioned to benefit from a healthy housing market, Scott said.
“It’s slow, but it’s positive,” Scott said of the economic recovery.
Unemployment has been dropping on the North Olympic Peninsula since February, when it peaked at 11.5 percent in Clallam County and 10.9 percent in Jefferson County.
But first-time unemployment claims, a key indicator in the overall jobless picture, were up last month in both counties.
Clallam County had 624 new jobless claims last month compared to 439 in May.
In Jefferson County, first-time unemployment claims jumped from 139 in May to 178 in June
Meanwhile, the statewide unemployment rate fell from a revised 9.2 percent in May to 8.9 percent in June.
A loss of government jobs was offset by 4,500 new jobs in the private sector, the state Employment Security Department said.
At 5.4 percent, San Juan County has the lowest unemployment rate of the 39 counties last month. Ferry County in northeast Washington had the highest at 12.6 percent.
The national unemployment rate fell from 9.7 to 9.5 percent last month.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.