Seattle Job Blog

The unemployment rate statewide dropped from 9.3 to 9.1 percent last month. Professional and business sectors added the greatest proportion of the new jobs with 5,600. Education and health services followed with 4,600.

Additionally, the Robert Half Professional Employment Report shows that a net 10 percent of executives in the Pacific Northwest plan to add full-time, professional-level employees during the second quarter. Nationwide that figure is 5 percent.More

With Washington’s unemployment hovering around 9 percent, competition for jobs is fierce. The unemployed who previously held long standing positions are finding themselves struggling to adapt to new hiring strategies, including Linkedin.com and employers who want more than just a decent looking resume. 

Jobfully.com provides strategies to help job seekers develop a brand for themselves, highlighting the qualities that employers are looking for right now.More

The unemployment rate in Washington state ticked up to 9.2 percent in November, according to preliminary data released today by the Washington State Employment Security Department. The national rate was 9.8 percent in November, up from 9.6 percent in each of the prior three months.More

NewWood Inc. CEO John Bowser says he was expecting about 200 job seekers to attend the open house at his company's new manufacturing facility in Elma, Wash., on Monday. Instead, about 800 applicants came looking for work.More

Washington has a well kept secret that most people on the West side of the mountains probably haven’t heard. If you listen closely, you just might hear it whistling past your open window. According to a study compiled by Washington State University employees, Washington has the fifth largest installed wind capacity in the United States. On top of that, the demand for wind turbines is rapidly outpacing the supply, leaving an employment vacancy that may soon be filled.More

Over the past several months, the unemployment rate in Washington has remained pretty flat, flagging between 8.9 and 9.0 percent. Although there have been jobs added in some areas, it hasn't been enough to compensate for the jobs lost elsewhere.More

TechFlash posted an interesting
graph showing the increase in employees at Amazon over the past year. The company
has added nearly 10,000 workers since Q3 2009, not including temporary and
contract workers. The data comes from yesterday's press
release on the company's Q3 2010 earnings.

Earlier this month I reported some statistics indicating that degree holders are generally weathering the recession better than those without degrees. In August, the national unemployment rate among college graduates was 4.6 percent, versus the general unemployment rate of 9.6 percent.More

Seattle-based Tableau Software announced in a press release this week that the company "currently has over 40 job openings and aims to hire over 100 professionals this year." The company currently has 17 Seattle openings on its job board, mostly in software engineering but also in sales.  More