Unemployment Improving, but Economy Still Recovering

After record-breaking unemployment in April and May, the numbers for the month of June showed improvement, though were still worse than last year.

Regional Labor Economist Don Meseck says the worst hit sector was leisure and hospitality which lost 40% of their jobs over the year, while the federal government was stable or added jobs.

"I've noticed in a couple of the counties I serve it's up a bit, but there's been some census takers hired and I believe over the next month or two we'll see another surge. A lot of that was delayed due to COVID-19."

Education and Health Services are down 8% with most of those losses in health care.

The Washington State Auditor's Office is investigating the hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims.

Meseck says it's not necessarily clear how much those fraudulent claims might have impacted the record unemployment rates we saw in April and May, but it isn't the only part of the formula.

"Many other factors go into computing the rate. With all that said, claims are still a major factor but there's a fair number of variables that go into the methodology. But it is a fair question."

Meseck says the unemployment rate for the Wenatchee MSA has dropped the past two months.