Local unemployment boomerangs back below 5% - Chinook Observer

It was up, then down, followed by being up again, and now it’s down one more time. Pacific County’s unemployment rate continued its volatile trend to end the summer, according to newly released estimates from the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD). The preliminary figures from the state agency found that the county’s jobless rate dropped to 4.6% in September, down from 6.1% in August and from 5.1% in September 2025. ESD’s findings, which are based on data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, have been all over the place for Pacific County in the past four months. The unemployment rate clocked in at 5.9% in June, dipped to 4.7% in July, jumped back up to 6.1% in August, and sat at 4.