Department of Numbers

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for Seattle fell 0.2 percentage points in November 2020 to 5.7%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.3 percentage points lower than the Washington rate. The unemployment rate in Seattle peaked in April 2020 at 17.3% and is now 11.6 percentage points lower. You can also compare Seattle unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate November 2020 Month/Month Year/Year
National 6.7% -0.2 +3.1
Washington 6.0% 0.0 +2.0
Seattle 5.7% -0.2 +2.6
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with November 2020 data as December metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: Seattle, Washington, National

Seattle, Washington monthly unemployment rate chart

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

Seattle, Washington Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in Seattle peaked in April 2020 at 374,957. There are now 252,088 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. Seattle employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in Seattle, Washington) is also available.

Unemployed Persons November 2020 Month/Month Year/Year
Seattle 122,869 -6,842 +55,173

Number of Unemployed Persons

Seattle, Washington Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 Washington
Unemployment Rate		 Seattle
Unemployment Rate		 Seattle
Unemployed
December
2020		 6.7% — — —
November
2020		 6.7% 6.0% 5.7% 122,869
October
2020		 6.9% 6.0% 5.9% 129,711
September
2020		 7.8% 8.3% 8.1% 176,932
August
2020		 8.4% 8.4% 8.1% 176,716
July
2020		 10.2% 10.2% 9.3% 202,777
June
2020		 11.1% 10.0% 10.1% 219,368
May
2020		 13.3% 15.1% 15.7% 338,837
April
2020		 14.8% 16.3% 17.3% 374,957
March
2020		 4.4% 5.1% 5.7% 122,561
February
2020		 3.5% 3.8% 3.1% 67,959
January
2020		 3.5% 3.9% 3.1% 68,203

1. Metro area unemployment rates are now seasonally adjusted. The BLS has started publishing smoothed seasonally adjusted metropolitan area data which makes comparisons to state and national data more relevant than the unadjusted numbers. ↩

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