South Sound Times

Thurston County recorded an unemployment rate of 5.5% among residents aged 16 and 65 years old in 2021. That’s 8,147 people out of the 290,642 living in Thurston County at the time, according to data obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The unemployment rate in Thurston County has decreased compared to the 5.9% registered in 2020.

The percentage of people unemployed in Thurston County was greater than the statewide unemployment rate of 5%.

Of the 139,058 people who had a job during that time, 5,275 were employed in the Armed Forces and 133,783 belonged to the civilian labor force.

Employment status	Number of people	Percentage of population
Unemployed	8,147	5.5%
Employed	139,058	94.5%
Employed in civilian labor force	133,783	90.9%
Employed in armed forces	5,275	3.6%