Pierce unemployment still higher than state

Pierce County’s unemployment rate is improving but continues to be higher than the staetwide average.

In the state Employment Security Department’s unemployment report for November, the most recent month with available statistics, joblessness in Pierce County was at 5.8 percent. The state average was 5.3 percent.

The numbers for both were lower than in October, when Pierce was at 6 percent and Washington at 5.6 percent.

Pierce County’s unemployment is higher than half of its neighboring counties. King and Thurston counties are at 3.9 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively, while Lewis (7.7 percent) and Yakima (8.3 percent) counties are worse off than Pierce.

Nine other western Washington counties, topped by Grays Harbor County at 8.4 percent, are also higher than Pierce.

Washington as a whole gained 3,600 jobs in November, lowering its jobless rate.