Clark County’s economy expanded in October at a pace not seen in nearly a decade, the region’s labor economist reported Tuesday, adding 7,300 jobs over the year and posting an annualized growth rate of 5.2 percent.
It’s a positive economic cycle driven by continued business investment and an uptick in consumer spending, said Scott Bailey, regional labor economist for the state Employment Security Department. “People get a bit more job security, so they’re able to spend more,” he said. And the county appears to be transitioning from the long economic recovery to expansion. “We’re pretty close to being in an expansion mode,” Bailey said.
Still, concerns linger. Some people remain on the job-market sidelines, having given up looking for work in the fallout of the Great Recession, while others are still working part-time as they seek full-time positions. And strong job growth has yet to translate to bigger paychecks.
“We still have a ways to go because of the underemployed,” Bailey said. Nevertheless, Clark County’s labor market results in October were mostly positive.
The last time the county recorded a 5 percent annualized growth rate was in 2005. “We are in a growing metro area,” Bailey said, serving as a suburban region “that still has room to expand.”
‘The big four’
As Bailey wrote in his monthly labor market update, released Tuesday, Clark County’s employment growth over the past 12 months “was a red-hot 5.2 percent.”
The county’s annualized growth rate more than doubled that of the nation’s (1.9 percent), easily topped those of Washington and Oregon (2.7 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively) and surpassed that of the Portland metro area (2.6 percent).
Every job sector showed net employment growth in the 12 months ending in October. “The big four,” according to Bailey: trade, transportation and utilities (up 1,800 positions); education and health services (up 1,300 jobs); professional and business services (up 1,000 jobs) and construction ( up 800 jobs).
The year-over-year payroll growth included a net increase of 200 jobs over the month. Driving part of that gain was the beginning of the retail sector’s holiday hiring spree.
Meanwhile, Clark County’s preliminary jobless rate in October clocked in at 6.7 percent. That’s down from 8.6 percent unemployment in October 2013. However, October’s initial jobless rate of 6.7 percent “may end up getting revised into the 7 percent range,” according to Bailey.
The revision would take into account those unemployed county residents who previously worked in Oregon. The county’s preliminary unemployment rate of 5.9 percent in September was revised upward to 6.5 percent.
