The state Employment Security Department issued its employment report for November this morning. The preliminary estimate is that seasonally adjusted employment in Washington fell by 6,000 from October to November. This followed  estimated declines of 7,400 from September to October and 1,400 from August to September. The estimated seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the state was 6.8 percent in November, a 0.2 point improvement from the 7.0 percent in October.

If the numbers are correct, the 14,800 jobs lost from August to November is the largest three-month job loss since the October 2009 to January 2010 period, just before the state economy hit bottom. See months 20 to 23 in the following chart:

However, as I have noted frequently on this blog (see for example), initial employment estimates are sometimes subject to considerable error. That may well be the case in this instance.

Time will tell.

The monthly employment report is available here.