People are counted as unemployed if they are at least 16 years old, are without a job and available for work, and have recently made specific efforts to find employment. The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed as a percent of the entire labor force.
Washington's monthly unemployment rate was 7.5 percent in March, 2013. This compares to 7.6 percent in the U.S. as a whole.
Washington's average annual unemployment rate in 2012 . . .
was 8.2 percent compared to 8.1 for the U.S.
was less than the previous year's rate of 9.2 percent.
ranked 18th – from highest to lowest – out of the U.S.'s 50 states.