According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provisional estimates, in July 2003 the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force in Washington numbered 3,115,200, with approximately 234,000 workers unemployed, yielding an unemployment rate of 7.5%, compared to the national average of 6.2% for the same period. Since the beginning of the BLS data series in 1978, the highest unemployment rate recorded was 12.5% in November 1982. The historical low was 4.4% in November 1997. It is estimated that in 2001, 5.4% of the labor force was employed in construction; 11.4% in manufacturing; 5.8% in transportation, communications, and public utilities; 21.4% in trade; 5.6% in finance, insurance, and real estate; 24.8% in services; 14.8% in government; and 2.8% in agriculture.
Although state and federal authorities suppressed radical labor activities in the mines around the turn of the century, in the logging camps during World War I, and in Seattle in 1919, the impulse to unionize remained strong in Washington. The state's labor force is still one of the most organized in the United States although (in line with national trends) the unions' share of the non-farm work force declined from 45% in 1970 to 34% in 1980.
The US Department of Labor reported that in 2002, 471,000 of Washington's 2,553,000 employed wage and salary workers were members of unions. This represented 18.4% of those so employed; the national average is 13.2%. In all, 512,000 workers (20.0%) were represented by unions. In addition to union members, this category includes workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union contract.