Online job ads signal strengthening economy

Ajsa Suljic is Employment Security’s regional labor economist for Asotin, Benton, Columbia, Garfield, Franklin and Walla Walla counties.

The number of possible job opportunities for Washington’s available workforce was about 130,200 in October 2014. The number of those jobs posted online increased by 6,600 from the same time last year.

Online job ads are best used to look at the level of demand for particular occupations, industries, skills and areas. That’s significant not only to businesses and job seekers who can guage the level of competition for jobs, but also to educational institutions who can gear their training programs toward trends in the labor market, helping bridge the gap between employers and job seekers.

Washington’s wage recovery

Anneliese Vance-Sherman is a labor market economist with the Employment Security Department (ESD). She covers Island, King, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom Counties.

The unemployment rate has been on a downward march since early 2010, and the number of jobs in Washington has continued to climb, reaching pre-recession levels in late 2013. Based on these two metrics, there is no question that we are in a recovery mode—yet the recovery has not reached all Washingtonians—and certainly not all in the same way.  Another meaningful metric we can look at is wages.