South Snohomish News

More Snohomish County residents are working, the Employment Security Department reported in August.

In July, the unemployment rate in the county was 8.8%, which is an improvement over June figures when the rate was just over 10%, HeraldNet reported. The state’s figures moved to 10.2% in July. This time last year, unemployment in Snohomish County was 3.2% and the state mark was 4.3%, according to a report by the Everett Herald.

“I think we are still on shaky ground, and a shaky unemployment rate serves as an affirmation of that uncertainty,”  Annelise Vance-Sherman, regional labor economist for the Employment Security Department, told HeraldNet in an email. “I think we are still on shaky ground, and a shaky unemployment rate serves as an affirmation of that uncertainty,” she said. “I’m not optimistic yet. The unemployment rate looks positive, but the numbers beneath the surface are disturbing.”

Sherman notes that there has been a reduction in the available labor force of 3,000 individuals compared to this time last year. Nearly 25,000 more people reported as unemployed.

“We are figuring out how to navigate an increasingly familiar — albeit still highly uncertain — environment,” Vance-Sherman told HeraldNet. “A number of jobs bounced back following the initial plunge as rules and norms became better understood.”