The central Puget Sound region gained over 34,000 jobs in 2023, hitting a new regional employment high of 2.16 million jobs, surpassing its pre-pandemic employment high of 2.13 million.
At the start of the pandemic, the region lost over 130,000 jobs, more than 6.1% of total employment. Slowly, employment has made a steady growth and recovered by 2022 with a gain of over 126,000 jobs.
One of the sectors that has been key to this growth is Wholesale Trade, Transportation and Utilities (WTU), which has produced an increase of 10% employment growth in King County, 15% in Kitsap, 5% in Pierce and 14% in Snohomish since 2020.
Manufacturing jobs have grown through the past three years but have not fully recovered. Regionwide, manufacturing employed 11% less people in 2023 than the sector did in 2020.
With total employment recovered in 2023, some areas still have not recovered fully since COVID-19. PSRC will monitor upcoming employment data around the region. For an in-depth exploration of employment growth within all sectors in the region, view our Puget Sound Trends.