San Juan County had a 5.7 percent unemployment rate for December 2015. Ferry County had the highest count with 11.2 percent and Yakima had the second highest count that month at 10.2 percent. Whitman and King County scored the best rate for December with only 4.5 percent.

The county’s rate has decreased from 6.1 percent found in December of 2014. In the last 15 years, the lowest rate for December was 3 percent in 1990.

The highest rate for December was 8.1 percent in 2010.

State statistics

On an annual average basis, from 2008 to 2010, Washington state and the United States each lost an estimated 5 percent of their respective employment bases. San Juan County lost about 11 percent of total nonfarm jobs from 2008 to 2011.

In short, employment losses were deeper and the downfall was longer than for either the nation or the state. The recovery has also been slow and tentative.

After reaching an employment low, jobs began to rebound in 2012 and then suffered another short-term setback in 2013, primarily a loss of government jobs. Annual average employment in 2014 was 5,420, 1.7 percent higher than observed in 2013. This is still 9 percent below pre-recession levels and close to the levels of employment observed in 2003 and 2004.