Washington State Unemployment Rate Virtually Unchanged January Through February

At showing some stability, Washington state's unemployment rate showed virtually no change the first two months of the year.

After making the usual adjustments for what are called seasonably employed workers (such as agriculture and other such calendar based jobs)  the unemployment rate stayed at 6.3% in January and February.

In fact, the only difference between the two was a difference of about 2,100 new jobs in February.  Considering the unemployed number of Washington residents was 222,300 that's very minute.

A person is counted as unemployed provided they've been without work for at least four weeks, and are currently seeking a job. However, one interesting fact included in the report in fine print is that these numbers, as well as national federal job numbers, are based upon the number of jobs filled - not people.

If a person already working takes a second job, that counts as a "new" job in unemployment figures.

According to the Labor Department, the difference between January 2014 and this year is about 16,600 new jobs added in our state over the course of a year.