Trendlines are certainly encouraging for the employment picture in Clark County. Here are two recent graphs provided by the Washington State Employment Division.
The first shows total employment, which almost topped 144 thousand residents as we reach the mid point of 2014. After the fits and starts we experienced in 2010 and 2011 the graph has steadily risen for three straight years. This mirrors news we have been hearing on the national level, where reports for May 2014 showed a gain of 288,000 jobs across the country.
The US economy has added more than 200,000 jobs in each of the past five months, a streak it last matched during the 1999-2000 tech boom. It’s a sign that the sluggish half-decade recovery from the Great Recession is finally building momentum.
These job gains have brought national unemployment to the 6.1% level.
Statewide, Washington’s unemployment mirrors very closely the national 6.1% rate, with Seattle being a very hot job market. On the home front we haven’t achieved quite such encouraging levels, but the trend certainly has been steadily downward for almost 18 months.
As companies continue to hire, and look to position themselves for growth, many are actively looking at lease space, or acquiring their own building. Both trends have kept activity levels in the commercial real estate markets very healthy.