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TMCNet: Unemployment in Kitsap County rises as more people restart job searches

[March 30, 2012]

Unemployment in Kitsap County rises as more people restart job searches

Mar 30, 2012 (Kitsap Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Unemployment in Kitsap County rose to 8.2 percent in February, up from a revised 7.8 percent in January.

For the first time in a year, the number of unemployed residents searching for jobs rose above the 10,000 mark to 10,300, according to fresh numbers from the Washington Department of Employment Security. Some 2,000 additional Kitsap residents renewed their work searches in February.

More people seeking jobs pushed the unemployment rate higher.

"Basically, people are getting less discouraged," said local Employment Security economist Elizabeth Court. "They're starting to seek work." The new job-seekers in February tended to be people who had been laid off from lower-wage jobs, such as general laborers and retail workers. White-collar workers didn't come as much into WorkSource, the public unemployment office located in Bremerton, according to Margaret Hess, WorkSource area manager.

Along with the rise in Kitsap County's unemployment rate, the number of jobs in Kitsap County rose in February. The county added 900 jobs, most all in the private sector. The addition brought the total number of jobs in Kitsap County to 80,900.

Jobs in February were added in trades and transportation, such as trucking, wholesale and freight jobs. Also, the number of professional-services jobs expanded, such as more attorneys and accountants. Hospitality jobs in hotels and restaurants started to pick up a bit, not a big surprise as the summer tourist season emerges on the horizon.

Hess said she's seen modest bump-ups in the number of U.S. Census door-knocker workers hired locally -- about 15 -- as well as landscapers, construction workers and even workers for federal contractors.

"We're actually seeing the federal contract folks do more hiring," she said.

February's increase in jobs in Kitsap County was in stark contrast to January, when 1,300 jobs went away, mostly in the retail and government job categories.

Since November, the unemployment rate in Kitsap County has risen a full percentage point.

In Mason County, the unemployment rate in February stood at 11.7 percent. In Jefferson County, it was 10.7 percent.

___ (c)2012 the Kitsap Sun (Bremerton, Wash.) Visit the Kitsap Sun (Bremerton, Wash.) at www.kitsapsun.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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