Jobs grew faster in Clark County last year than they had in a decade, and the pace may keep accelerating, according to the latest labor report from the Washington Employment Security Department.
Local employers added 6,900 jobs last year, bringing total employment in Clark County to 155,700, or an increase of 4.3 percent. The findings are preliminary and won’t be finalized until next month. If they hold up, last year will be the strongest year for job growth since 2005.
Regional Labor Economist Scott Bailey said the growth in Clark County has been fueled by a couple factors: our proximity to both Portland and Seattle, as well as the rise of corporate jobs such as those brought by Banfield Pet Hospital and PeaceHealth, both of which relocated headquarters here in recent years.
“The phrase I used a couple years ago was ‘sea change,’ where we had more higher income, managerial and professional jobs coming into the county,” Bailey said.
The run continued as the year ended. Nonfarm employment in Clark County increased by 700 jobs in December, according to preliminary reports.
“I think 2017 is going to be another good year of 4 percent employment growth,” Bailey said. “We’ve got (Ilani Casino Resort) coming online. We’ve got construction activity at the waterfront. So I think there’s still a lot of momentum.”
The findings are included in Bailey’s latest Labor Market Summary, a county-level tally and analysis of jobs that is released every month by the state employment agency.
The report shows the unemployment rate was 6 percent in December, unchanged from December 2015 as more workers entered or re-entered the job market.
Some industries shed jobs, though losses weren’t out of line with seasonal patterns. Construction lost 200 jobs, dampened by the winter weather, and businesses services dropped 300 jobs, likely due to fluctuations in temporary employment, according to the report.
The biggest gains came in health services and hospitality, which grew by 300 and 200 jobs respectively, again not accounting for seasonal trends.
With tax season on its way, the professional services sector hired 200. Retail employment stayed the same.
For 2016, construction and mining continued to show the fastest growth, adding 1,100 jobs for a 10 percent growth rate. Professional and business services grew 7 percent with 1,300 jobs, and financial services grew 6.3 percent with 500 jobs.
Portland metro area
Job growth in the Portland metro area is slower than in Clark County, and was slower in 2016 than in 2015.
Job growth in 2016 for the metro area, which includes Clark and Skamania counties and five counties in Northwest Oregon, slowed to 2 percent, according to the Oregon Employment Department.
That growth is faster than the United States’ rate of 1.5 percent, but behind its own 3.3 percent pace from 2015.
It is also slower than the statewide rates of Oregon and Washington, which both clocked 2.6 percent.
Still, it was a successful year for some Portland-area industries. A red-hot construction sector grew 10.5 percent throughout the year, adding 6,000 jobs, according to the Oregon Employment Department.
The agency’s report also stated that the financial activities sector, which grew 2,400 jobs for 3.6 percent, “outperformed the overall economy for the first time in well over a year.”
On the other side, the manufacturing sector reportedly fell 1.4 percent and lost 1,700 jobs.
The unemployment rate for the Portland metro area fell from 4.6 percent in November to 4.3 percent in December. In December 2015, the metro area posted 5.1 percent unemployment.
