August
20

When looking for insights on the local economy, one resource I typically turn to is Hart Hodges. Hart is a good friend of mine, and he is also the Director of Western Washington University’s Center for Economic and Business Research.

Hart recently shared some notes on the local job market with me, and I thought I would post some of those insights here on our CBMA blog. So, here’s Hart:

Whatcom Co. Job Market – Signs that we’re near the bottom?

The job market has – quite obviously – weakened over the past year. In both Whatcom County and the state as a whole, there were 4.6% fewer jobs in June 2009 compared to the peak of the market in spring 2008.

The following graph shows employment levels (nonfarm jobs) in Washington State and Whatcom County from January 2000 through June 2009.

WA State and Whatcom County Employment - Jan 02 to June 09

While the employment graph shows similar percentage declines in the number of jobs from 2008 through June 2009 in Whatcom County and Washington State – one can note two differences. The first is how Whatcom County “missed” the recession of 2001, with its jobless recovery. The decline and slow recovery experienced in many places is clearly evident in the series for Washington. The other difference is simply that Whatcom County saw job growth in June 2009.

The increase in the number of jobs in Whatcom County in June could be a sign that we’re near the bottom of the recession. But again, look carefully at the Washington State series. The recovery from the 2008/09 recession could be as slow or slower. Note: the time it has taken the job market to recover after a recession has gotten longer with each recession since 1983.

You might be interested in the labor area summaries prepared by the Employment Security labor economists. You can access the summaries here.