Seattle area job growth near nation’s top, says federal report

Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)

The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area added 19,900 jobs in November, ranking the area fourth in the country in job addition, below three much larger areas.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ November report, of the 310 metropolitan areas it tracks in the country, 210 reported job losses, 93 reported job gains and seven were unchanged. Adding the most jobs was the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas area, which added 54,300 jobs, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (46,900 jobs) and the Washington, D.C. area (31,000 jobs).

The bureau also tracks employment trends in 32 large concentrated employment centers within metropolitan areas, with 10 of those areas — including the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett employment center — reporting over-the-year employment increases and 22 reporting losses.

The Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area added the third highest number of jobs in the country in November with 23,900, trailing only Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas, which added 31,100, and the Washington, D.C. area, which added 27,000.

The Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area ranked No. 2 in the nation in the largest over-the-year percentage gains at 1.6 percent in November, trailing only Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas, which recorded a 1.8 percent gain.The government said December’s metropolitan area employment figures will be released on Feb. 4.

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