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The Seattle Times reported our state unemployment numbers today. The report shows the unemployment rate for the State of Washington is 9.1% with the private sector adding 8,300 jobs for the month while the public sector shed 2,500 jobs. What the Troll found promising was the pickup in construction related jobs. According to the report, construction led the way by adding 2,400 jobs followed by professional and business services (1,700) and manufacturing (1,200). Of the jobs lost 1,100 were federal and 1,400 were at the state and local level. There were 307,000 unemployed in Washington with 217,000 receiving unemployment benefits.

In other news courtesy of the Seattle Times, the state’s ecology department overestimated oil related pollution levels in the Puget Sound by a huge margin. The ecology department reported to PBS Frontline in 2008 that Exxon Valdez spill levels were occurring in the Puget Sound on a cumulative basis every 2 years. That was wrong and is in fact dozens of times lower than what was reported. The news is great for the Troll who may actually take a dip at Shilshole this summer.…..if there is a summer.

The Troll