WA employers added jobs in May, but unemployment rate stayed stuck at 5.2%

Washington’s unemployment rate held steady at 5.2% in May even as the economy added roughly 10,000 jobs, its highest one-month gain this year.

“A strong month of growth is welcome following two consecutive months of employment losses, but it doesn’t signal any meaningful shifts on its own,” Anneliese Vance-Sherman, chief labor economist for the Employment Security Department, said Wednesday.

The unemployment rate was unchanged from April. It was 4.5% in May 2025 and the slow incremental increases last year and first half of 2026 signal “an increasingly challenging labor market for job seekers,” she said. The national unemployment rate was 4.3% last month.

Washington gained a seasonally adjusted increase of 10,600 jobs in May, the department reported. Of those, 4,800 were in the leisure and hospitality industries, followed by manufacturing with 2,200 jobs and construction with 1,600. Public sector employment gained 1,600 jobs.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/briefs/wa-employers-added-jobs-in-may-but-unemployment-rate-stays-stuck-at-5-2/