Category Archives: Demographics

Kitsap entered fall with more jobs and a growing labor force

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

chartimgA 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.chartimg-1

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.

Minimum wage initiative would affect thousands of Kitsap workers

20060124-061050-pic-985377851_5739340_ver1-0_640_480A minimum wage initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot could boost pay for thousands of low-wage Kitsap County workers, according to analysis by a state economist.

But nailing down exactly how many jobs would be affected if the initiative passed is no easy task.

If approved, Initiative 1433 would incrementally increase the state’s minimum wage from the current $9.47 an hour to $13.50 an hour in 2020.

To help understand the implications of the initiative, state Employment Security Department economist Scott Bailey created a hypothetical scenario in which a $13.50 minimum wage was applied to 2015 labor markets in each county. He used a $12.23 minimum wage to account for inflation between 2015 and 2020.

B0013070067--582128For job and wage data, Bailey turned to a database of quarterly wage records.

The records include most jobs covered by unemployment insurance, but exclude federal jobs, private household employment like nannying, and home health care workers.

Bailey also noted the records capture three-month periods, which makes it difficult to create an exact point-in-time job count, since individuals move in and out of labor markets, and many jobs are short-term.

With all those caveats in mind, here were key takeaways from Bailey’s analysis of Kitsap County’s labor market in 2015:

— Somewhere between 3 percent and 6 percent of non-federal jobs in Kitsap paid minimum wage ($9.47, plus or minus 18 cents).

— Somewhere between 19 percent and 26 percent of non-federal jobs paid less than $12.23 an hour (the equivalent of $13.50 in 2020). That was between 9,000 and 19,000 jobs.

— Jobs paying less than $12.23 an hour accounted for 8 percent of Kitsap’s non-federal payroll.

— Payroll would have to increase by about 1.2 percent to meet the minimum wage requirement under 1433, a change of about $29.7 million.

Bailey also took a statewide look at what industries would most be affected by the minimum wage hike, again using 2015 labor market numbers.

This chart shows the percentage of jobs by industry paying less than $12.23 an hour (the equivalent of $13.50 in 2020):

Landlords fair will highlight need for veteran housing

B0013334255--619729The Homes for All Who Served initiative launched last year with the ambitious goal of housing all homeless veterans in Kitsap County by Nov. 11, 2016.

More than 80 former service members have been housed since the program started, but more needs to be done to meet the Veterans Day deadline, according to a county news release.

In an effort to find more potential homes for veterans, Kitsap Community Resources will host an information fair for landlords next week. The fair is scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon July 22 at 1201 Park Street in Bremerton.

The event will include information on fair housing laws, housing subsidies, tenant programs that support veterans, and how to participate in ending veteran homelessness.

“Landlords are key partners in providing rental units for veterans who are being supported by agencies that provide counseling, job search and financial assistance,” Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent said in the news release.

A survey conducted by Homes for All Who Served in the fall of 2015 found 45 veterans living outside. Nearly all of those veterans have either been housed, are in the process of securing housing, or are unable to be contacted, according to the news release. Another survey will be conducted this month.

Landlords and property owners interested in the Homes for All Who Served project may contact Jackie Fojtik at the Housing Solutions Center, (360) 473-2035.

Average apartment rent now $1,134 in Kitsap

B0012506365--503284Average rent for an apartment in Kitsap County climbed to $1,134 in the second quarter of 2016, while vacancies dropped below 4 percent.

Average rent per unit was up $57 from the first quarter of the year, marking the largest quarterly increase in the past two years.

Rental statistics were provided by Tom Cain of Apartment Insights Washington, who surveys apartment complexes with 50 or more units and tracks industry trends.

Average rent in Kitsap was up 12.4 percent in the second quarter of 2016, compared with the same period of 2015.

Complexes in the Poulsbo/Bainbridge Island submarket reported both the highest average rent ($1,418) and lowest vacancy rate (2.42 percent) in the county.

Silverdale had the highest vacancy rate at 4.19 percent, but the area also saw the largest rent increases in Kitsap in the second quarter.

Cain listed job growth, a hot for-sale real estate market, and a lack of apartment construction as factors contributing to low vacancies and steady rent hikes in Kitsap and neighboring counties.

“We anticipate that with the rapidly rising rent levels and very low vacancy rates, more developers will be taking notice of Pierce, Kitsap and Thurston Counties,” Cain said in a news release.

Here’s a graphical look at apartment rental trends in Kitsap:

Employment stronger, job growth gradual in Kitsap this year

Kitsap County saw incremental job growth through May this year, while overall employment among county residents remained more robust.

Kitsap jobs

Kitsap County employers provided an estimated 88,900 jobs in May, according to preliminary numbers from the state Employment Security Department. That marked an increase of 1,300 from May 2015.

Through the first five months of the year, the number of jobs in Kitsap was up 1.8 percent compared with the same period of 2015.

The largest gain came in the public sector, where jobs increased by 3.5 percent. Private sector jobs increased by less than 1 percent.

Here’s a graphical look at Kitsap job trends:

Employment/unemployment

Overall employment among Kitsap residents has been healthier so far this year than last.

The county’s labor force (the total number of people working or seeking work) numbered 117,400 in May, up 2,568 from May of 2015. And about 2,600 more county residents were working last month than in May 2015.

Kitsap’s unemployment rate hovered at 5.7 percent.

Here’s a graphical look at employment trends:

Kitsap posts solid first quarter job growth

Kitsap County added about 2,366 jobs from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016, according to preliminary estimates from the state Employment Security Department.

Kitsap had an average of 88,233 jobs during the first three months of the year, up nearly 3 percent from the same period of 2015. Job growth came from both the private sector (up 2 percent) and government sector (up 4 percent).

Here’s a graphical look at job growth in the county:

Employment/Unemployment

Overall employment among Kitsap residents also improved in the first quarter.

The county’s labor force (the total number of people working or seeking work) was up about 3,500 from the first quarter of 2015, reaching an average of 118,651.

An average of 111,711 residents were employed during the first three months of the year. The county unemployment rate hovered at about 5.8 percent.

Here’s a long-term look at Kitsap employment trends:

Why not convert Harrison Bremerton into affordable housing?

Harrison Medical Center’s consolidation in Silverdale will leave a 450,000-square-foot hospital vacant in East Bremerton three years from now.

FeelingTheSqueezeHarrison parent company CHI Franciscan Health is still determining if the building can be repurposed or should be torn down.

Given the looming affordable housing crisis in Kitsap, reader Kim Edgar in Poulsbo wondered if Harrison Bremerton could be converted into dorm rooms for Olympic College students or some other form of low-cost housing.

“The rooms are large enough to be dorm rooms and they have their own bathrooms,” Edgar pointed out in an email.

674094_5539855_ver1.0_640_480-1“Throw in a small fridge and a microwave and you’ve got a dorm room. They could convert the nurses station in to a common room, laundry room and a common kitchen area.

“Or, maybe Kitsap Housing Authority could turn the hospital into an affordable apartment complex and possible temporary housing for the homeless.”

Edgar probably isn’t the only Kitsap resident eyeing the Harrison Bremerton building as a potential home for affordable rentals, so I asked Kurt Wiest with Bremerton Housing Authority if the idea sounded feasible.

“The simple answer,” Wiest said, “is it’s complicated.”

The Housing Authority has been interested in the site since Harrison announced its relocation plans. But Wiest said retrofitting the aging hospital into apartments would almost certainly be cost prohibitive.

Since portions of the building were built decades ago, Wiest said there are likely hazardous materials like lead or asbestos present that would make residential conversion a complex and expensive prospect.

Wiest believes there is potential to create housing at the Cherry Avenue campus if the hospital is demolished. Much will depend on what CHI Franciscan decides to do with the property.

Have an idea for creating affordable housing in Kitsap? Drop a comment below or write me at tad.sooter@kitsapsun.com.

Poulsbo has a lot of breweries, but it’s not quite ‘Brew City USA’

blog.valhollPoulsbo is about to get a fourth brewery.

As we reported last week, Silverdale’s Rainy Daze Brewing will move north late this summer to take over Sound Brewery‘s original tasting room on Bovela Lane. (Sound is moving its tasting room to the current Campana’s Italian Restaurant building on Viking Avenue.)

B0013216035--291405Rainy Daze will join Sound, Slippery Pig Brewery and Valholl Brewing in Little Norway.

With four breweries in a city of less than 10,000 residents, Poulsbo will certainly have an embarrassment of malty riches. So it’s fun to wonder where Poulsbo rates among craft beer crazy towns.

There are all kinds of ways to rank cities and states based on beer. Which has the most breweries? The most breweries relative to population? What city produces the most barrels or consumes the most beer? And which has the “best” breweries?

When it comes to breweries per capita at least, Poulsbo isn’t ready to claim the title of “Brew City USA,” as it was recently dubbed in the North Kitsap Herald.

There are a number of cities here in Washington with higher ratios of breweries to people. After all, we live in a state with more than 300 licensed breweries and a lot of very small cities.

Using a database of licensed breweries from 2015 provided by the Liquor and Cannabis Board, and the state’s official population estimates, I put together a quick list of Washington cities blessed with high brewery-to-population ratios. I ignored breweries that didn’t report any production in 2015 and stuck with incorporated cities.

Poulsbo
Population: 9,950
Breweries: 4 (once Rainy Daze opens)
Ratio: 1 brewery per 2,488 residents

Westport
Population: 2,110
Breweries: 3
Ratio: 1 brewery per 703 residents

Stevenson
Population: 1,530
Breweries: 2
Ratio: 1 brewery per 765 residents

Roslyn
Population: 890
Breweries: 1
Ratio: 1 brewery per 890 residents

La Conner
Population: 895
Breweries: 1
Ratio: 1 brewery per 895 residents

White Salmon
Population: 2,420
Breweries: 1
Ratio: 1 brewery per 2,420 residents.

Based on a quick scan, it does appear Poulsbo could become the smallest city in the state with four or more breweries. That by itself would be an accolade worth toasting.

Kitsap employment off to strong start in 2016

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Kitsap County started the new year with strong employment and job numbers, according to the state Employment Security Department. 

Jobs in Kitsap

More than 88,100 people worked for employers within Kitsap County in January, according to preliminary estimates. That was an increase of 2,700 from January 2015.

Significant year-over-year gains were reported in both the private and government sectors.

The report also revised job estimates for 2015, reporting an average of 88,500 jobs for Kitsap last year.

Here’s a graphical look at job numbers:

Employment/Unemployment

Overall employment among Kitsap County residents was also better in January than in January 2015.

B0013070067--582128Kitsap’s labor force (the number of people working or actively seeking work) grew by more than 3,000 workers. About 3,700 more residents were employed.

The number of residents reported as unemployed fell to 7,040. The unemployment rate hovered at 5.9 percent (down from 6.4 percent in January 2015.)

The state also posted revised employment numbers for 2015, with more favorable results for Kitsap. Here’s a graphical look at long-term employment trends: