The rise of the omicron variant stunted job growth in Washington in January, but employers still added jobs as the state edged closer to pre-pandemic levels.
Washington employers added about 5,700 jobs in January, according to the state Employment Security Department (ESD). The growth was far less than that seen in November and December, when job growth was in the neighborhood of 13,000 to 14,000. Paul Turek, ESD’s state economist, says some of the slowdown can be attributed to the spread of the omicron variant.
“Not only does it cause a surge of worker absenteeism due to the illness, but it also may sicken the people who are looking for a job, and at the same time, maybe scare people a little bit who might be considering a job, and that tends to suppress hiring. Which we tended to see in January,” Turek said. Overall job recovery in Washington has been strong. Between January 2021 and January of this year, the state gained 186,700 jobs.
Washington is getting closer to pre-pandemic employment levels, Turek said, but total recovery still faces what he calls “headwinds” – factors such as a tight labor market, the continuing effects of inflation and even the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which is helping drive up gas prices.
It's likely that the size of Washington’s employment sectors – categories such as tourism, manufacturing, professional services – will be different when compared to pre-pandemic years.
“I think that’ll be affected by the ability to work from home,” Turek said. “But also, in places where you had workers with certain skills and they retired, they’ll be harder to replace.”
Manufacturing and construction will especially feel those effects, Turek said, because the skills necessary to carry out those jobs successfully take time to learn and implement. That could create a temporary strain in those industries until the jobs can be filled and workers are proficient.
“Right now, the labor market does look good, but there’s a lot of clouds on the horizon,” Turek said.
Washington’s unemployment rate fell slightly in January, to 4.4 percent. At the same time, the state saw a temporary bump in the number of unemployment claims being paid out, which ESD attributed to post-holiday layoffs of seasonal workers.
