Budget cuts and the resulting layoffs are being blamed on a 2010 jail population that is significantly lower than it was expected to be.

Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said that the county jail system would be running an $8 million budget deficit by the end of the year had the cuts not been approved.

Washington’s most populous city, Seattle, showed a decrease in jobless figures, the rate dropping from 8.5 to 8.6 percent, according to the article.  Seattle continues to remain well under the national average, partly due to its traditionally diversified and tech oriented economy base.

Construction, on par with the national average remained sluggish. The financial service industry suffered significant losses as well.

Seasonal industries, according to the Times, including retail and employment services, saw job gains in the last month.

Even with the jobs increase, the unemployment rate rose to 9.3 percent from December’s revised rate of 9.2 percent. Still, state officials are optimistic things are improving on the jobs front. “It’s encouraging to see jobs finally coming back,” said Karen Lee, Employment Security Commissioner. “I hope it signals the beginning of a job-full recovery, not a job-less recovery.”

The employment sectors that saw the largest job gains include retail trade, which added 3,000 jobs, educational and health services (2,800 jobs) and construction (2,700 jobs). The heaviest job losses came in the transportation, warehousing and utilities sector (900 jobs).

Washington State’s Yakima County is looking at mass layoffs as a serious option to compensate for the county’s budget gap, which is upwards of $3 million.

Between 45 and 60 jobs hang in the balance as county commissioners head to Tuesday’s meeting to set a preliminary budget for 2010. It is projected that that budget will consist of around $54 million in spending. However, revenues are only expected to reach $51.3 million.

The county has about 1,100 employees and it is the third largest employer in Yakima County after Wal-Mart and Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.

City commissioner Mike Leita said that almost all vacant positions have been eliminated, meaning that budget cuts will be slashing currently filled positions.

The plant will manufacture Provenge, a treatment for patients with advanced prostate cancer. The drug is under review by the Food and Drug Administration, and the plant will open when the product is approved.

Dendreon is a biotechnology company that currently employs 250 people.

The firm cut 130 jobs last year.

RealNetworks is a provider of Internet media delivery software and services based in Seattle, Washington. The company is best known for the creation of RealAudio, a compressed audio format; RealVideo, a compressed video format; and RealPlayer, a media player. The company is also known for its subscription-based online entertainment services like Rhapsody, SuperPass, and RealArcade; and for its media properties like Film.com and RollingStone.com.

The city hopes to avoid laying people off or reducing services. Tacoma’s sales tax revenues are down 16% since 2007, and utility revenues are 40% less than estimates.

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city in, and the county seat of, Pierce County, Washington. The Census Bureau estimated its population at 196,520 in 2007. Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area, and the third largest in the state.

The Air National Guard’s annual budget eliminates the positions at the 194th Regional Support Wing by October 1st. Most of the unit is based at Camp Murray, near of Tacoma.

Targeted jobs include the wing’s command structure, training, recruiting, retention and equipment positions. Over 1,000 airmen serve in the unit, which also has units at two other Washington bases.

The layoffs are the result of budget cuts at the Department of Social and Health Services.

Founded in 1939, the Rainier School is a residential facility for 440 adults with developmental disabilities, located in Buckley, Washington.