Families across Washington who have been struggling since the recession began have another reason to be hopeful this week, as new employment figures show that our state’s job market continues to trend upward.
According to the Employment Security Department, Washington added an estimated 4,100 jobs last month, dropping our state’s unemployment rate to 6.8 percent. That’s down from April’s rate of 7 percent, well below the national average of 7.6 percent.
Economists note that our unemployment rate has fallen by 0.7 percentage points since the start of the year. That makes it the lowest it has been since the beginning of the recession in November of 2008, when the rate was 6.5 percent.
This economic growth is a very encouraging sign for Washington. However, as the more than 119,000 unemployed Washingtonians would tell you, there is still much more that needs to be done. Luckily there are still two important, job-growing proposals in play as the House and Senate are approaching an agreement on the operating budget: the capital budget and a transportation revenue package.
Both capital and transportation investments in necessary projects would create tens of thousands of jobs for our state, many in the industries that were hit the hardest during the economic downturn. In addition, they will help to build and maintain the roads, bridges, schools, colleges, water projects, and other public infrastructure that help private businesses expand and prosper.
To continue Washington’s path towards prosperity, we need to double down on the infrastructure that gets us there.