County’s job market is bouncing back, just needs its workers back

Whatcom County has regained half of the jobs it lost in last year’s pandemic-induced recession. 

According to Washington’s Employment Security Department (ESD) data, 13,900 jobs were lost from March to April last year. The county had 96,600 jobs in March 2020 and 82,700 jobs by April 2020. As of September 2021, the county had 90,700 jobs, adding 8,000 jobs since the pandemic low.

“Whatcom County is past the halfway mark,” said Anneliese Vance-Sherman, ESD regional labor economist, referring to pandemic recovery.

The county saw significant job gains in May as businesses reopened with the use of masks, outdoor seating and the introduction of the vaccine, Vance-Sherman said, specifically in the service industry. Nearly, 1,700 jobs were gained in leisure and hospitality from 2020 to 2021. But she said now the pace is slowing. 

“As long as we still have the pandemic with us, I think we will still have that uncertainty that it brings to the job market,” she said. “A 3.5 percent growth [August to September] in job market is very high, but we’re just trying to dig out of a hole right now.”

With schools returning to full-time, in-person learning and federal unemployment benefits expiring at the beginning of September, there was an expectation for employment to increase throughout the county and state, Vance-Sherman said. She didn’t believe it would because people were waiting for unemployment benefits to end, she said, but it was a widely considered factor.

September, however, saw similar gains to August statewide. Washington state payroll employment expanded by 17,000, about a 1,000 more than August, but below June and July. Vance-Sherman said the October report will show if a significant gain was made, which will be released in December.

Washington’s unemployment rate for September 2021 was 4.9 percent. The revised estimated August 2021 unemployment rate was at 5.1 percent, according to September ESD data. The September 2020 unemployment rate was 8 percent. 

Nationally, the unemployment rate for September 2021 was 4.8 percent and was 4.6 percent for October 2021, according to U.S. Department of Labor data.

Washington and Whatcom County have recovered from layoff activity, Vance-Sherman said. Although seeing a slight seasonal rise recently, initial unemployment claims have remained stable at pre-pandemic numbers since late July 2021.

In the week ending November 13, 154 initial claims for unemployment benefits were filed with ESD in Whatcom County. The week before, 167 were filed. This time last year 482 claims were filed, 6,292 were filed at the end of March 2020.

Statewide, 5,181 initial claims were filed in the week ending November 13, while 5,996 were filed the week before. In the week ending November 14, 2020, 16,837 claims were filed, and 25,201 the week before. The last week in March 2020 181,975 claims were filed in Washington.