Washington job market shrugs off recent tech layoffs – for now

SEATTLE -- Washington's tech companies are cutting thousands of jobs, but hiring in other industries remains surprisingly strong despite new signs of a slowdown next year. That's roughly double the job growth in October and also beats the 11,000 new jobs the state averaged each month during the preceding 12 months. 'We've actually got multiple projects in the pipeline and on every project, our subcontractors can almost name their price because they are so short of labor,' said Matt Ohlinger, a Seattle-area assistant superintendent with developer Mill Creek Residential. 'The reality is, there's just not enough people coming into the industry.' But not all the recent jobs numbers are good. State retailers, for example, were down 1,300 jobs compared to historical numbers, said Anneliese Vance-Sherman, a regional economist with ESD who covers the Seattle-area job market. That's still low by historic standards, but higher than the 3.7 percent national rate. It's also the third increase in Washington since the summer months, when unemployment in Washington appears to have bottomed out at 3.7 percent. That's down from the prior week, and low by pre-pandemic standards, but it's also nearly 40 percent higher than the weekly average of the past 12 months. Those layoffs might not actually happen for months, said Vance-Sherman. 'This is likely to be a slow-moving situation, especially among large employers,' Vance-Sherman said. U.S. jobless claims up modestly last week