Washington Unemployment Declines as State Adds Close to 13,000 Jobs

(Olympia, WA) -- Washington State's job growth is on the rebound. The Employment Security Department's monthly report released Wednesday shows employers added 12,800 jobs last month. That's a significant jump from October, when Washington actually lost 500 jobs. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 4.7%--down from 5% in October.

Despite the rebound, Washington's hiring rate is still less than where is was during the summer when monthly hiring averaged over 19,000 new jobs between June and September.