Washington State -- The unemployment rate in Washington held steady at 7.5 percent in February while the state had a net gain of about 4,000 jobs.
The number of new jobs was close to the monthly average of 5,000 over the past year.
Sheryl Hutchison with the State Employment Security Department says the slow and steady job growth is encouraging at this time of year.
She says the state has regained roughly 70 percent of the jobs lost in the great recession.
Some industries that saw the biggest increases in jobs were education, health services, manufacturing and professional and business services, while construction and leisure and hospitality saw the most job losses.
