Monthly Employment Report for May 2023

Contact:  media@esd.wa.gov

Payroll employment increases while unemployment rate falls in May

OLYMPIA – Washington’s economy gained an estimated 2,900 jobs (seasonally adjusted) in May.

"The May jobs report shows that the Washington labor market is mostly holding up,” said Employment Security Department (ESD) State Economist Paul Turek. "While the overall trend in job growth is slowing, it is occurring gradually. In contrast, the household measure of employment—which measures the number of people employed, rather than the number of jobs in the economy—rose by 17,700 in May.”

Visit ESD’s website to view the entire Monthly Employment Report for May.

Washington’s monthly unemployment rate decreased to 4.1% in May.
ESD paid unemployment insurance benefits to 55,247 people in May, a decrease of 2,368 paid claims over the previous month. Decreases in paid claims within the construction and agriculture sectors contributed to the overall decrease in paid claims over the month.

National unemployment rate
The national unemployment rate increased in May from 3.4% to 3.7%. For comparison, the national unemployment rate (revised) for May 2022 was 3.6%.

Updated state preliminary data for April 2023

• The preliminary estimated gain of 6,100 jobs for April 2023 was revised downwards to a gain of 5,600 jobs.
• The seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment rate was confirmed at 4.3%.

Job seekers continue to move back into the labor force
The state’s labor force in May numbered 4,065,500 – an increase of 8,500 people from the previous month.

In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, the labor force increased by 10,400 over the same period.

Labor force is defined as the total number of people, both employed and unemployed, over the age of 16. Layoffs and labor force participation are not necessarily connected. When people are laid off but still seeking work, they remain a part of the labor force. A drop in the labor force means people have left work and haven't been actively seeking employment for more than four weeks.

From May 2022 to May 2023, the state’s labor force increased by 29,500, while the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region increased by 26,900.

From April to May, the number of people who were unemployed statewide decreased from 174,500 to 165,300. In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett region, the number of people who were unemployed increased from 53,000 to 54,200 over the same period.

Private sector employment increased by 3,500 jobs while government employment decreased by 600 jobs.

Of the industry sectors, in May:

• Six expanded.
• Six contracted.
• One remained constant.

Here are some key increases and decreases:

• The number of jobs in education and health services increased by 4,200 overall, with 2,400 jobs gained in ambulatory health care services.
• Manufacturing employment rose by 2,300, led by 1,800 jobs added in food manufacturing.
• Retail trade employment increased by 1,100 overall, with 800 jobs added by motor vehicle and parts dealers.
• Professional and business services employment decreased by 2,100, with 1,800 jobs lost in employment services.
• Leisure and hospitality employment decreased by 2,300 overall, with 2,100 jobs lost in arts, entertainment and recreation.

Annual employment growth
Washington gained an estimated 104,700 jobs from May 2022 to May 2023, not seasonally adjusted. Private sector employment rose by 2.9%, up an estimated 85,600 jobs, while public sector employment rose by 3.4% — up an estimated 19,100 jobs.

From May 2022 – May 2023, 12 major industry sectors expanded and one contracted
The three industry sectors with the largest employment gains year over year, not seasonally adjusted, were:

• Education and health services, up 30,000 jobs.
• Government, up 19,100 jobs.
• Leisure and hospitality, up 17,200 jobs.

The Information sector was the one sector that contracted, losing 1,200 jobs between May 2022 – May 2023. 

Table 1: Washington’s total jobs

*Revised from previous preliminary estimates. Preliminary monthly estimates for jobs losses or gains are
based on a small Bureau of Labor Statistics payroll survey while actual figures reported the following
month are based on a more complete survey.        

Table 2: Job gains and losses by industry sector for May

Labor market information

See more labor market information and tools, including interactive Tableau graphics, to highlight popular information and data.

WorkSource

Employment Security is a proud partner in the statewide WorkSource system, which provides employment and training assistance to job seekers and businesses. WorkSourceWA provides access to thousands of Washington jobs and other employment resources. WorkSource staff can connect job seekers with employers hiring right now in their community, identify training opportunities or help them brush up on application and interview skills. Job seekers and employers can find their nearest WorkSource center on the WorkSource office locator page.

Learn more about ESD’s monthly employment reports

Every month, the Employment Security Department publishes preliminary seasonally adjusted estimates for the prior month’s job growth and unemployment. We also publish confirmed data for the month before last. See the entire Monthly Employment Report on our website.

Monthly Employment Report publication schedule for 2023

U-6 unemployment rate
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) updated its “alternative measures of labor underutilization” for states to include annual averages for 2021. One such alternative measure is the U-6 rate, which considers not only the unemployed population in the official “U-3” unemployment rate, but also marginally attached workers and those employed part time for economic reasons. The U-6 rate is defined by BLS as the “total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers.” This U-6 measure estimates the “unemployed, underemployed, and those who are not looking but who want a job.”

The U-6 annual average unemployment rate for the four-quarter period through first quarter 2023 for Washington state was 7.4%. This was lower compared to the 10.1% average annual U-6 unemployment rate for 2021.  The U.S. U-6 average annual unemployment rate for 2022 was 6.9%.

Web links

• Monthly employment report

• Labor market information website

• Historical data (Excel spreadsheet)

• Employment Security website

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