Employment in Clark County declined by 400 jobs in August when accounting for expected seasonal losses, according to data released Tuesday by the Washington State Employment Security Department.
The county’s unemployment rate ticked up to 5.5 percent last month, but regional economist Scott Bailey was not sounding an alarm about the state of the economy.
“In terms of the business cycle, we’re in pretty good shape,” Bailey said. “We’re nowhere near a recession.”
Employment data showed jobs in the education sector fell by 2,000 in August, which is typical when school district contracts end for classified employees. Those jobs return with new contracts in the new school year.
The total number of jobs in Clark County was reported at 169,100 in August.
Clark County was seeing 4 percent job growth in the past four years, but growth rates cooled to 1.7 percent in the past year, closer to the state’s 1.4 percent growth, Bailey said.
“We had four years plus of really strong employment growth,” he said.
Among standout industry changes, the health care sector lost 200 jobs in August.
Construction added 300 jobs in the county in August, according to the data, extending an industry surge from the year prior; more than 900 jobs in construction and mining were added over the last 12 months, showing a 5.9 percent growth rate.
“Certainly the waterfront has a big impact on that,” Bailey said, but housing construction, as well as highways and roads, account for growth, too.
