The state Employment Security Department released its Monthly Employment Report for April this morning. According to preliminary estimates from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the state lost 527,000 jobs, net, seasonally adjusted (SA), from March to April. This estimate is based on BLS’s monthly survey of employers, which counts as employed all persons who received pay for any part of the pay period that includes the 12th day of month.

BLS estimates that the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett metro area (King and Snohomish counties, which together account for a bit more than one-half of all jobs in the state) lost 265,000 jobs (SA) from March to April, while the rest of the state lost 262,000 jobs (SA). Here is a chart showing monthly employment in the two regions since January 1990:

BLS estimates the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the state for April to be 15.4 percent. BLS unemployment rate estimates are based a monthly survey of households conducted for BLS by the Census Bureau. The reference period for this survey is the calendar week that includes the 12th day of the month.

For the Seattle metro area, the estimated April unemployment rate is 14.5 percent (SA) up from 5.6 percent (SA) for March. For the rest of the state, the estimated April unemployment rate is 16.2 percent (SA), up from the estimated March rate, 4.7 percent (SA).

The full report is available here.

The Monthly Labor Report for May is scheduled to be released on June 17. Based on the large number of initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in April and early May, I expect that report will show another large drop in employment. After that, the state economy should begin to recover as the most densely populated parts of the state enter phase 2 of the reopening process. The speed of recovery is uncertain, however, as is the extent to which the pandemic itself and the resulting lockdown have done long-term damage.