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Clallam's jobless rate climbs in July 8/14/03 Clallam County’s employment picture softened a bit in the latest report from the state, but overall it continues to be somewhat stronger than the statewide trend. The latest report from Employment Security was released on Wednesday and shows Clallam County’s unemployment climbed a bit between June and July, and remains close to where it was at the same time last year at just over 7%. Jefferson County showed some nice improvement in the latest report, improving a full half percent between June and July to 5.5%. Mason County also showed improvement for one of the first times this year, the Shelton market has been in a slump for most of 2003. And Grays Harbor was also somewhat stronger, although the number of workers with a job on the Harbor remained higher than last summer. Statewide, the jobless rate dropped three-tenths of a percent to 7.5% . Employment Security officials say they continue to get “mixed signals” from a “weak” labor market, where some sectors improved, but areas like agriculture employment declined. |