This slide from the Calculated Risk blog looks at state unemployment rates from three perspectives: the recession high (blue), current (red), and the lowest rate since 1976 (yellow square). Washington ranks about in the middle of the pack.
As we noted previously, our state’s falling unemployment rate is good news. But that good news is primarily a result of a hot economy in the Seattle metro area. Too many areas of our state continue to struggle with unemployment rates that remind us that the recovery has been spotty. (The county table below is the most recent from the Employment Security Department, for April 2015.)
