Washington adds about 10,600 jobs in May; unemployment holds at 5.2%, agency says

The Employment Security Department said Washington added about 10,600 jobs in May, the largest single-month increase since December 2024, while the unemployment rate held steady at 5.2%, Chief Labor Economist Annalise Van Sherman said at an online media availability.

Van Sherman said the monthly gain followed several alternations of small monthly losses and gains and reflected a gradual shift toward a job market that is "more challenging for job seekers" than a year earlier. "We saw some job gains this month on the order of about 10,600," she said. "The unemployment rate has been slowly climbing incrementally... and we are holding at 5.2%."

The department reported modest annual labor-force growth: over the year Washington added roughly 17,250 workers, or about 0.4 percent, Van Sherman said. On a sector basis, she said the largest monthly gains came in leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, construction and government. "Leisure and hospitality saw an increase of 4,800 jobs," she added, noting accommodation and food services accounted for about 3,100 of that gain and arts, entertainment and recreation rose about 1,700 jobs.

Van Sherman listed industries with losses, including wholesale trade, other services and professional business services, and said manufacturing gains were concentrated in aerospace and food manufacturing. She also said government-sector losses were concentrated at the federal and state levels with some offsetting increases at the local level.

Reporters asked for county-level detail. Debbie Cockrell of the News Tribune requested Pierce County and Tacoma-area numbers; Van Sherman said the department does not provide county breakdowns during the statewide release and that local numbers are published in a separate release next Tuesday. She offered to connect reporters to regional economists for local context, naming Paul Turek as the regional economist for Pierce County.

Reporters also asked about unemployment-insurance claims. Van Sherman said the department follows weekly initial claims but cautioned that initial claims are a "noisy dataset" and that continued claims — a longer-term measure of people remaining on benefits — have been rising, which she said is consistent with other signs of economic stress and the modest rise in unemployment.

Chris Baron, the department communications director, provided additional claim figures on the call: "The four-week moving average for initial claims decreased just by 44 to 4,847," he said, adding that the figure is about 8 percent lower than the prior four-week average. He said continued claims for regular benefits decreased by 1,027 to 71,133 and that the department could provide the figures by follow-up email.

Van Sherman and department staff made clear the May numbers are seasonally adjusted to remove expected seasonal hiring, and they said events such as the World Cup could be one possible contributor to leisure-and-hospitality hiring but are not the only factors. The department encouraged reporters seeking local context to contact regional economists and said county reports would be available next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

The Employment Security Department held the availability after distributing a press release at 10 a.m.; officials said they plan to continue offering these immediate availabilities when statewide reports are released.