Photo by Steven Lane
Applicants wait to be interviewed at a Target job fair at the Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay on Aug. 9.
By Aaron Corvin Columbian Staff Reporter, Tuesday, August 21, 2012
The month of July found Clark County’s labor market improving as strong private-sector job growth and fewer first-time claims for unemployment insurance provided signs of health.
But the progress isn’t happening quickly, according to Scott Bailey, the region’s labor economist, who released his “Southwest Washington Labor Market News” report Tuesday.
“Step by step, inch by inch, Clark County employment has been crawling out of the recession,” Bailey wrote. “Progress remains agonizingly slow, however.”
The county’s economy added a net 800 jobs in the 12 months through July, marking an annualized growth rate of 0.6 percent. Boosted by gains in manufacturing and wholesale trade, private-sector payrolls swelled at twice that overall rate, adding 1,600 jobs over the year and posting annualized growth of 1.5 percent.
Full Article: http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/aug/21/report-clark-countys-economy-showed-slow-improveme/