Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington Job Growth

There were 1,839,700 jobs in Seattle, Washington in May 2020 according to the CES survey of employers. The CPS survey of households showed 1,825,344 employed persons for the month. Seattle added 52,600 jobs in May 2020 according to the CES survey while the broader CPS measure of employment rose by 30,430 (Comparing CES and CPS employment numbers.). You can also compare Seattle job growth to job growth in other cities.

Employment Survey	May 2020	Month/Month	Year/Year
CES	1,839,700	+52,600	-245,900
CPS	1,825,344	+30,430	-265,196

Note: The CPS survey data is now seasonally adjusted at the metropolitan level by with the new BLS SSA series.

Seattle, Washington Employment Changes

The charts below show the monthly job growth for Seattle as measured by the CES and CPS surveys. To illustrate the trend, the 3 month moving average change in employment is shown in green.

CES Employment Change: 1 Month, Rolling 3 Month

CPS Employment Change: 1 Month, Rolling 3 Month

Total Employment for Seattle, Washington

CES employment for Seattle peaked in January 2020 at 2,119,900. Since then 280,200 jobs have been lost in Seattle according to the employer survey. From a trough of 1,787,100 in April 2020, Seattle has gained 52,600 jobs according to CES employment figures.

CPS employment reached a maximum of 2,128,399 for Seattle in February 2020. 303,055 jobs have been lost in Seattle since then according to the household survey. From a April 2020 low of 1,794,914, Seattle has added 30,430 jobs according to the CPS survey.

Employment: CES, CPS

Seattle, Washington Employment History

Date	CES Employment	CES Month/Month	CPS Employment	CPS Month/Month
May 2020	1,839,700	52,600	1,825,344	30,430
April 2020	1,787,100	-311,900	1,794,914	-233,595
March 2020	2,099,000	-17,200	2,028,509	-99,890
February 2020	2,116,200	-3,700	2,128,399	3,743
January 2020	2,119,900	5,800	2,124,656	-2,053
December 2019	2,114,100	6,700	2,126,709	2,859
November 2019	2,107,400	7,200	2,123,850	3,912
October 2019	2,100,200	-3,500	2,119,938	4,751
September 2019	2,103,700	1,500	2,115,187	5,600
August 2019	2,102,200	3,500	2,109,587	6,326
July 2019	2,098,700	6,899	2,103,261	6,473
June 2019	2,091,800	6,200	2,096,788	6,248