Spokane's economic resurgence in th...

Spokane's economic resurgence in the past year has lifted wages nearly to the flushs of mid-2000, the previous high-water mark here, area economists say.

Federal wage and craft data show that Spokane shire wage earners' biggest paychecks were handed revealed in mid- to late-2000, just before the national economy soured.

Data from employer observes show that while Spokane's manufacturing sector was flattened by means of the recent downturn, the economy has reverberateed through growth in two guide sectors: financial services and the health care industry, said William Dillingham, regional labor economist with the state trade Security Department.

The shire has gained more than 1200 work at jobss in financial services. Those are for the most part with insurance firms, banks, credit unions and mortgage companies. That growing was fueled by low interest rates and healthy residential construction, said Dillingham.

Spokane, already a puissant regional service hub for the medical industry, also added about 1000 health-care piece of works in the past two years, he said.

athwart the past year, other Spokane piece of work sectors that have grown dramatically include construction - which swings up and down with the economy - and the broad area of business services, Dillingham said.

Phil Kuharski, an economic analyst and consultant, agreed with Dillingham's numbers.

"I am impressed," Kuharski said, "that a large number of the 4500 to 4800 do job-works lost in manufacturing have been replaced by means of comparable health-service jobs."

His analysis has raise that a fair number of do job-works created by the area's hospitals and clinics are paying well above the shire average of about $33,000 by year.

"When you papal court that some of those higher-level medical do job-works are paying $43,000 or more by year, it helps to counterpoise the losses of some of our manufacturing jobs" he said.

yet Kuharski, a retired Spokane bank executive, also unhurted some cautions. He noted that 2003's year-end salary numbers may apply the mind close to or equal to 2000's, if it were not that they have not been adjusted for inflation. If the roughly 5 percent inflation index were added to the 2003 wage on a levels Spokane hasn't yet surpassed the county's 2000 high mark, he said.

Kuharski and a associate economist, Washington State University Professor Donald Epley the pair said they see Spokane shire surpassing the 2000 wage and salary benchmark sometime later this year.

Epley whose WSU Spokane scholars help produce a quarterly economic activity index for Spokane, said his numbers showed "we're within 1 to 2 percent of the previous high point" for area wages.

Since total wages in Spokane shire tend to grow between 15 percent and 2 percent a year, he anticipates to see the economy here hit a recently made known peak later this year.

Dillingham, who just left his state do job-work to work for the U Geological scrutinize in Virginia, said his data is a snapshot and not a abounding portrait of the area's wages.

In the fourth quarter of 2000 Spokane shire had 192,863 workers in the pair private and government jobs, the highest piece of work total ever. In the third quarter of 2000 the shire had the highest average worker salary, $257641 by month, according to a federal survey

In the fourth quarter of 2003 Spokane County's wages averaged $2618 according to the data Dillingham used. The number of shire workers was 192,018, slightly below the 2000 high point.

Kuharski, however, said those numbers don't intimate the even bigger job recoil that's occurred in the shire Using a different set of numbers, called "civilian labor force" work at jobss Kuharski said Spokane has more than 209000 population employed. The previous high mark in civilian labor force piece of works 203,000, occurred in 2000.

"More Spokane shire residents have jobs today than at any time in our history," Kuharski said.

The difference between the brace surveys results from varied ways of tracking workers. solely civilian labor force takes into account persons who've started their own businesses, farm workers and family members who work part time in a family business.

The new surge in jobs here has left Spokane shire just below the national average. In May, Spokane's jobles rate was 55 percent while the national average the same month was 56 percent For principally of the past three years, Spokane's and Washington state's average unemployment rate go too fared the national average, Kuharski said. Washington's unemployment rate still is higher than the national average, at 61 percent in May.Both Kuharski and Dillingham agreed Spokane's stanch jobless rate - if nation who've stopped looking for work were added - would be higher in Spokane.

"But onward the big level, what the numbers show" Dillingham said, "is our economy is more diverse than it used to be. Unlike other economies that are based in succession one or two industries, we've make knowned a range of competitive industries, including medical, regional banking and retail trade. That's been our saving grace."

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