Generally speaking, you can’t have two opposite things at the same time. It can’t be both cold and hot, it can’t be both light and dark, and so on. At least, that’s what common sense tells us.
But the thing is, sometimes it does happen. Ever been happy and sad at the same time? Or how about feeling excitement and dread at the same time? Go figure, right?
The economy isn’t quite as complex as a person, but it’s still complex enough to have some of these weird things happen. Take the latest jobs report, for example…
Here are Five Fast Facts on crazy jobs numbers and unemployment in Washington State:
- 📈📈 Two Things Go Up - The February jobs numbers for Washington State showed almost 3k jobs created. But don’t celebrate yet…unemployment also went up by .01%, to 4.7%. It’s the highest rate since September 2021. That’s not the kind of high we like! 🚬
- 🤔 Ex-squeeze Me? Bacon Powder? - If that’s a head scratcher for you, join the club. Economists say one reason this can happen is that jobs are going up, just not fast enough to meet the demand of all the people looking for jobs. Good news, just not good enough, apparently.
- 😵💫One More Possibility - Another possible explanation rests in the fact that unemployment only counts the people who are actively looking for a job. So, it could be that a bunch of people who weren’t previously looking for a job started looking for a job, but didn’t find one. Wait, what…?
- 🤦 Bigger Picture - The Evergreen State’s unemployment rate is high compared to the national unemployment rate of 3.9%. Yeah, that sucks.
- ✋ Bigger Issue - The biggest problem going on here is the trend: our unemployment rate is higher than it was a year ago, and this is the fifth straight month of unemployment going up. The last time it actually went down was even further back, in July 2023. Someone needs to turn this ship around!
🔥Bottom line: It’s a strange scenario, but in the end the problem is that there just aren’t enough jobs to go around. Our elected leaders in Olympia need to take a hard look at what is needed, and do their jobs on behalf of the people of this state!
What do you think can be done to help create more jobs and turn unemployment around?
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