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Employment <br />In Kittitas County employment grew at a rate of 2.5% <br />between 2000 and 2008. The County suffered job losses <br />during the recession beginning in 2009, and since then job <br />growth has been stagnant or slow. In 2014, county <br />employment finally surpassed the 2008 peak. During the <br />entire period of 2000 -2014, county employment grew at <br />an average annual rate of 1.4%. The employment sectors <br />with the highest growth between 2000 and 2014 were <br />professional and business services, and the leisure and <br />hospitality sectors (Table 21). The Washington State <br />Employment Security Department has projected that <br />these two sectors, and Education and Health Services, will <br />experience the highest growth rates over the next several <br />years. Many of Ellensburts top employers are in these <br />sectors. <br />Table 21. Kittitas County Employment and Growth Rates by SKtor <br />LARGEST EMPLOYERS IN <br />ELLENSBURG <br />• Central Washington <br />University <br />• Kittitas VaHey Healthcare <br />• Ellensburg School District <br />• Kittitas county <br />• Anderson Hay and Grain <br />• Elmview <br />• Falrpolnt communications <br />• Fred Meyer <br />• City of Ellensburg <br />• Twin City Foods, Inc. <br />Aver.ap annual-.,owth rate ESD prvjected annual <br />Ol/2015 ll'OWth rate Employment sector amploymltnt 09/~0 14-2000-2014 09/2015· 2019-3011 Z018·2DU <br />Goods producing 1,510 0.91% 0.00% <br />Trade, transportation, <br />utilities 2,500 0.12% S.OOJ& 1 .37% 0 .95% <br />Information & <br />financial activities 730 2.41% 5.80% 0.00% 0.43% <br />Professional & <br />business services 680 2.73% 17.20% 1.39% 2.23% <br />Leisure and hospltallty 3,210 2.52% 22.10% 2.07% 1.38% <br />Private education & <br />health services 1,450 2.04% 3.60% 3.59% 1.89% <br />State & local <br />government 6,340 1.61% 17.00% 1.29% 1.21% <br />Federal 1overnment 180 -1.78% 12.50% -1.28% 0.00% <br />•At the time of data amllysls ESD had not released seasonally adjusted 2015 employment counts that are co.111parabhi to the <br />2009-2014 data. Therefore, growth rates are calculated separately for this one year period. <br />Source: Washington State Employment Security Department, Labor Market and Perfonnance Analysis, 2015. <br />Ellensburg's annual employment growth rate of 0. 7%, between 2002 and 2013, was slower than <br />the countywide employment growth. Between 2013 and 2014, there was an 8% decline in the <br />total number of workers In Ellensburg, a loss of 533 primary jobs. <br />Between 2002 and 2014 there has been a slow decline in the number of Ellensburg residents <br />who work in Kittitas County, and a steady increase in the number of Ellensburg residents who <br />CITY OF ELLENSBURG COMPREHENSIVE PLAN • ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT o PAGE 127