Washington state employers added 25,100 jobs during the 12 months ending in March, preliminary data from the Washington state Employment Security Department shows.

For the month of March, however, the state’s total job count decreased by about 5,200 jobs from the prior month.

“March marks the third month in a row of declining employment, marking a trend of job losses in the early months of 2025,” says Anneliese Vance-Sherman, chief labor economist at the Employment Security Department, in a press release.

Washington state’s unemployment rate in March was 4.4%, down from 4.6% in the year-earlier month. The rate was unchanged from February to March.

For comparison, the nationwide unemployment rate in March was 4.2%, up from 3.9% in the year-earlier month.

Washington’s labor force included about 4.1 million people in March, up about 7,000 from a year earlier, but down about 5,000 from the previous month.