Washington Business Summer 2018 | Washington Business | Page 34

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regional industrial profiles
The pie charts show nonfarm employment for each region by major industrial sector. Government jobs include federal, state,
local and tribal government, the military, and public schools, colleges and universities. As a share of the employment base,
government jobs range from a low of 13 percent in King County to a high of 33.4 percent in the Olympic region.
Eastern Employment 2017
Government
21%
Mining, Logging and
Construction
5.2%
Manufacturing
7.6%
Leisure and
Hospitality
9.6%
17.2%
8.9%
Government
19.1%
Education and
Health Services
Manufacturing
8.7%
Retail
Trade
Professional and
Business Services
Mining, Logging and
Construction
5.9%
21.2%
11.3%
Other Private
Services
South Central Employment 2017
11.6%
Other Private
Services
13.7%
Leisure and
Hospitality
11.8%
Retail
Trade
Professional and
Business Services
10%
17.2%
Education and
Health Services
eastern south central
“The Eastern region has a robust urban center — Spokane — with
health care and aerospace innovation, and a strong agricultural
export economy,” according to the BCG -Roundtable report.
Manufacturing accounts for just 7.2 percent of the jobs in the region.
Matthewson calls it “a tale of two regions,” with its own urban-rural
divide. While Spokane has prospered, when you zoom out to rural areas
“you see slower [income] growth and higher rates of poverty.” In the Tri-Cities, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is “a
hub of innovation and job creation,” the report states. But, again,
as you move from the Tri-Cities metro area, other parts of the
region have struggled with higher unemployment rates.
The region also has a growing tourism industry, bolstered by
the wine country.
34 association of washington business