{"id":28245,"date":"2014-02-04T09:00:27","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T17:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/?p=28245"},"modified":"2014-02-04T08:54:25","modified_gmt":"2014-02-04T16:54:25","slug":"seattle-employment-still-outperforming-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/04\/seattle-employment-still-outperforming-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle Employment Still Outperforming Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jobs data for December was released last week, so let’s take an updated look at the Seattle area’s unemployment rate and approximate labor participation rate alongside the national numbers.<\/p>\n

\"Unemployment<\/a><\/p>\n

In December the Seattle area’s unemployment rate dipped slightly from 5.6% to 5.3%. The national unemployment rate is still a bit higher, but also declined in December to 6.7%.<\/p>\n

The Seattle-area labor participation was flat in December at 69.3%. The national labor force participation rate fell 0.2 points to 63.0%.<\/p>\n

For reference, in 2006 when everyone imagined the economy to be in great health, the local unemployment rate averaged 4.3% and the labor participation rate averaged 69.5%. Our labor force participation rate is still on par with the pre-bust period, but we’re still waiting on the unemployment rate to drop another percent and a half to reach the pre-bust levels. I still expect to see both measures back to early 2006 levels some time in the first half of this year.<\/p>\n

Later this week we’ll look at how specific job sectors are performing in the Seattle area.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n