July Unemployment at Historic Low In Wenatchee Labor Market

The Washington Employment Security Department report for July shows a jobless figure reached an historic low and year over year, unemployment rates have declined from April through July 2023 (Figure 1).

Regional Labor Economist Don Meseck reports the 2.9 percent unemployment rate for the Wenatchee Labor Market in July 2023 is the lowest recorded in the month of July since county-level statistics have been tracked electronically back to 1990.

This July, the number of nonfarm jobs was 49,700, a modest increase of 200 jobs from last July.

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Meseck found the civilian labor force (CLF) defined as local residents working or actively seeking employment has  number of people willing and actively seeking employment has shrunk year over year.  In July 2023, there were 4,285 fewer Chelan or Douglas County residents in the CLF than in July 2022, a 5.7 percent downturn.

However, 575 fewer residents were unemployed in July '23 compared to last year representing a 22.1 percent decrease.

Non-farm employment continues to expand in year over year comparisons for 28 months dating back to April of  2021

The expanding job sectors included private education, health services, federal and local government provided more jobs this July in the Wenatchee area than in July 2022.

Employment in local manufacturing and retail trade suffered job losses over the same period