Over the past year, the Seattle metro area has seen an increase of about 1.8% in nonfarm employment, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Between August 2023 and August 2024, employment grew by 38,600 jobs in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Job growth was not even across sectors, with office-using positions continuing to see year-over-year losses, driven by diminishing technology jobs — a decline of 4,800 jobs over the year. The good news is that while the information sector’s employment growth is still negative year to year, the current numbers are an improvement over the peak annual loss of 6.3% in November 2023.
Perhaps matching these overall employment trends, our dormant regional office market is beginning to sputter back to life. In the first half of this year, the Seattle metropolitan area saw its strongest leasing trends since 2019. Between 2020 and now, more than 9 million square feet of office space has been vacated; about 43 million is currently marketed as available for lease. Recent absorption trends, however, hold some promise.
Despite their recent decline in employment, tech companies seem to remain committed to our region. As we start to see more employers require an increased in-office presence, we’ll likely see this sector continue to invest and hire in the region, leading to job growth and a boosted office demand in the coming months.
This post was based on information found on CoStar and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
