Kent Kammerer mentioned our 2009 brief “Seattle’s Lost Decade” Monday in Crosscut (“Why businesses worry about Seattle’s policies”). The brief is available here.

Here is an update of Chart 2 from the brief, extended through March 2009, the most recent date for which employment in Seattle is available.

The data come from the Puget Sound Regional Council, which compiles employment estimates for regional cities for March of each year from Employment Security Department unemployment insurance tax records. March 2010 employment numbers will not be available until next spring. From March 2009 to March 2010, private employment in the Seattle metro area (King and Snohomish Counties) declined by 4.1%. In August, Seattle area employment was 0.5% greater than March.