More jobs are available in Kitsap this fall than in previous years, according to the state Employment Security Department.
But a growing labor force has contributed to a higher unemployment rate in the county.
Jobs in Kitsap
A preliminary
estimate showed 89,600 non-farm jobs in Kitsap in October, an
increase of 900 from October 2015.
Of the new jobs, 700 were created in the government sector while 200 were added in the private sector.
The state has consistently reported more jobs in Kistap this year than in 2015, and significantly more jobs than in 2014. There were about 2,600 more jobs in the county in October 2016 than in October 2014.
Employment/unemployment
Nearly 111,500 Kitsap residents were employed in October, according to Employment Security, marking an increase of 1,460 from October of last year.
The county’s labor force — the total number of people working or seeking work — grew by more than 2,400 over the same period, topping 118,300 in October.
Growth in the labor force has contributed to a higher
unemployment rate in the county this year compared with
2015.
For statistical purposes, people are only counted as “unemployed” if they are actively seeking work. So as more people join the labor force and look for work, it can cause the unemployment rate to rise.
That appears to be the case in Kitsap, where the unemployment rate rose from 5.1 percent in October of 2015 to 5.8 percent in October of 2016, despite more residents becoming employed.
