Is your Business Looking For Help? Good Luck In Yakima

Looking for work? Yakima might not be the best place to hunt. But there are certainly jobs to be had "out there."

All over the country, you'll find "help wanted signs". Lack of workers is a major contributor to the supply chain problem that threatens to leave shelves sparse or empty as we roll into the holidays. Ask around Yakima if they have jobs going unfilled.

Pre-pandemic which now is, what...like about 100 years ago?...the Yakima County unemployment rate usually ran about 10 points higher than the rest of the state or nation. That changed under the Trump administration when just about everybody who wanted one, had a job.

Recent History

You know the trajectory from there. The Coronavirus hit, the country locked down, people lost their jobs, businesses went bust, landlords couldn't collect the rent, and to help stimulate recovery the unemployed were given extra money, enough so that thousands of workers were able to make MORE money by remaining unemployed rather than going back to work. In addition, mask and vaccine mandates kept a lot of people home from shopping and from working.

The build-back better/American recovery plan now has the national unemployment rate under 5%, which again is a measure of people actually looking for work. The National Labor Force Participation Rate is just over 60%...which means millions aren't.

Most Recent Numbers

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics "Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 194,000 in September, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 4.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, in professional and business services, in retail trade, and in transportation and warehousing. Employment in public education declined over the month."

Yakima Sets A Record!

So how about Yakima? What is our unemployment rate? Well, we are sitting at a record low. According to State Employment Security Department (ESD) records, the rate, 3.9 percent, is the first time the city’s jobless rate has been below 4 percent in 30 years of keeping records.

For more information on Yakima's record-low unemployment rate during September 2021, check it out here. - City of Yakima Unemployment Rate Hits Record Low | News – City of Yakima (yakimawa.gov)