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Washington's unemployment rate continues slow drop

Washington's unemployment rate dipped to 8.1 percent in April. Image via U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Washington's unemployment rate dipped to 8.1 percent in April. Image via U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington’s jobless rate continues to inch downward. The April numbers out Wednesday put unemployment at 8.1 percent . That’s down from 8.3 percent in March. Most of April’s job growth was in manufacturing.

State economist Dave Wallace says so far 2012 is proving to be a recovery year in Washington.

“We now have eight sectors that are on the positive side of the ledger, three sectors on the negative side," Wallace says. "Overall the private sector on the annual basis has grown by 1.9 percent and added 43,900 jobs.”

Government, on the other hand, continues to shed jobs -– some 2,300 in April. Last month nearly 286,000 Washingtonians were still unemployed and looking for work. And so far nearly 90,000 state residents have run out of all unemployment benefits.

Since January 2004, Austin Jenkins has been the Olympia-based political reporter for the Northwest News Network. In that position, Austin covers Northwest politics and public policy as well as the Washington State legislature. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) Emmy-nominated public affairs program "Inside Olympia." Prior to joining the Northwest News Network, Austin worked as a television reporter in Seattle, Portland and Boise. Austin is a graduate of Garfield High School in Seattle and Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. Austin’s reporting has been recognized with awards from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, Public Radio News Directors Incorporated and the Society of Professional Journalists.