Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington's jobless rate held steady in August at 8.9%. The state gained 900 private sector jobs, but lost nearly 3000 government positions.

Sectors that are hiring include education, health care and manufacturing.

Dave Wallace is acting chief economist for Washington's Employment Security Department. He calls August's report neutral.

Dave Wallace: "Not a lot of movement happened. Half the sectors gained, half lost but none particularly strongly outside of government. So it sort of seems we're at a plateau at the moment."

Wallace says from the peak to the trough of the recession, Washington lost 207,000 jobs.

That's up from the previous estimate of 181,000.

It also appears the recession lasted a month longer in Washington than originally thought -- through February, not January, of this year. Since then the state has added 14,000 jobs.