Leading, Slipping, Gaining, Lagging Analysis:
Assessing Finance and Insurance Employment Growth
Across Washington Counties
Finance and Insurance
Employment Growth
County vs Statewide Average: 2010-2022 and 2022
Finance and Insurance
Employment Growth
Washington:
2010-2022 = 2.04%
2022 = 7.24%
Borrowing from an approach that sometimes appears in the finance sections of the popular press, LSGL analysis is a handy and versatile way to compare, portray and classify the patterns of finance and insurance employment growth across all of Washington's 39 counties. In finance, this technique is used for comparing and assessing the market performance of individual securities or across industry sectors. For example, the performance of the 30 stocks contained within Dow are compared with one another over the past week in contrast to their performance over the past month using the Dow's respective averages as the points of reference.
Here in this Washington Regional Economic Analysis Project report, we adopt this approach to gauge and compare the finance and insurance employment growth of Washington's 39 counties over the latest available year (2022) against the backdrop of their growth over the long term period (2010-2022). In so doing we classify their growth and performance into 4 broad categories: Leading, Slipping, Gaining and Lagging.
Finance and Insurance
Employment Growth
County vs Statewide Average: 2010-2022 and 2022
Finance and Insurance
Employment Growth
Washington:
2010-2022 = 2.04%
2022 = 7.24%
This figure displays the 39 counties of Washington as dots on a scattergram, with the vertical axis representing the average annual finance and insurance employment growth rate over the long-term period (2010-2022), and the horizontal axis representing the finance and insurance employment growth rate for the near-term (2022).
This figure sets apart those counties whose long-term finance and insurance employment growth exceeded the statewide average of 2.04%, by portraying them in the top two quadrants demarcated at 2.04% on the vertical axis. County whose long-term average annual finance and insurance employment growth rate trailed the statewide average (2.04%) are distributed in the bottom two quadrants. In all, 17 counties surpassed the statewide average over 2010-2022, while 18 counties fell below.
Similarly, the two quadrants on the right of this figure present the positions of the 24 counties whose most recent (2022) finance and insurance employment growth rate exceeded the statewide average (7.24%). The two quadrants on the left feature those 11 counties whose finance and insurance employment growth over 2022 trailed the statewide average.
Accordingly, each quadrant portrays the performance of all 39 counties corresponding with their long-term (2010-2022) and near-term (2022) performance relative to their respective statewide averages of 2.04% over 2010-2022 and 7.24% over 2022:
Leading counties () (top-right quadrant)...are counties whose average annual finance and insurance employment growth rate surpassed the statewide average both long-term (2.04%) and near-term (7.24%).
Slipping counties () (top-left quadrant)...are counties whose long-term average annual finance and insurance employment growth rate exceeded the statewide average (2.04%), but whose near-term growth has "slipped" by falling below the Washington average (7.24%).
Gaining counties () (bottom-right quadrant)...are counties whose long-term average annual finance and insurance employment growth rate fell below the statewide average (2.04%), but whose near-term growth has "gained" by registering above the average (7.24%) statewide.
Lagging counties () (bottom-left quadrant)...are counties whose average annual finance and insurance employment growth rate fell under the statewide average both long-term (2.04%) and near-term (7.24%).
   
 
Summary of Washington's 39 County Totals
 
Short Term Average
 
 
Below
(7.24%)
Above
(7.24%)
 
Long
Term
Average
Above
(2.04%)
5
12
17
Below
(2.04%)
6
12
18
 
11
24
35
 
   
Leading Counties
2022 vs. 2010-2022 Averages
Leading Counties
white dot
Washington:
2010-2022 = 2.04%
2022 = 7.24%
Turning attention to the top-right quadrant from the discussion above, this figure features the distribution of the Washington counties classified as Leading. These counties surpassed Washington's average annual finance and insurance employment growth both long-term (2010-2022 = 2.04%) as well as near-term (2022 = 7.24%). Each is identified by its corresponding ranking based on it's average annual finance and insurance employment growth rate over 2010-2022.
Of Washington's 39 counties, 12 (31%) are classified within the Leading () category. Those counties ranked by their long-term average include:
Slipping Counties
2022 vs. 2010-2022 Averages
Slipping Counties
Washington:
2010-2022 = 2.04%
2022 = 7.24%
This figure depicts the distribution of the 5 Washington counties classified as Slipping (top-left quadrant), in that their long-term average annual finance and insurance employment growth rate outpaced the average statewide (2010-2022 = 2.04%), while they trailed the statewide average near-term (2022 = 7.24%). Again, each county is identified by it's corresponding ranking based on its average annual finance and insurance employment growth rate over 2010-2022.
Only 5 (13%) of Washington's 39 counties are classified as Slipping (). Those counties ranked by their long-term average include:
Gaining Counties
2022 vs. 2010-2022 Averages
Gaining Counties
white dot
Washington:
2010-2022 = 2.04%
2022 = 7.24%
This figure shows the distribution of the 12 Washington counties classified as Gaining (bottom-right quadrant), in that their long-term average annual finance and insurance employment growth rate posted below the average statewide (2010-2022 = 2.04%), while they outpaced Washington's average near-term (2022 = 7.24%). Again, each county is identified by its corresponding ranking based on its average annual finance and insurance employment growth rate over 2010-2022.
Of Washington's 39 counties, 31% (12) are featured as Gaining (). Those counties ranked by their long-term average include:
Lagging Counties
2022 vs. 2010-2022 Averages
Lagging Counties
white dot
Washington:
2010-2022 = 2.04%
2022 = 7.24%
This figure depicts the distributions of the 6 Washington counties classified as Lagging (bottom-left quadrant). These counties trailed the statewide average annual finance and insurance employment growth both long-term (2010-2022 = 2.04%) as well as near-term (2022 = 7.24%). Again, each county is identified by its corresponding ranking based on it's average annual finance and insurance employment growth rate over 2010-2022.
15% of Washington's counties, 6 of 39, are characterized here as Lagging (). Those counties ranked by their long-term average include:
   
 
Washington
Finance and Insurance Employment Growth
County vs. Statewide Average
 
2010-2022
 
2022
 
 
Leading Counties
 
5
3.16
 
26
7.25
207
 
13
2.38
 
17
9.12
1,902
 
3
4.30
 
5
13.56
14,658
 
7
3.10
 
20
8.39
672
 
2
4.58
 
7
12.90
1,138
 
12
2.43
 
16
9.34
1,299
 
11
2.74
 
10
10.84
1,370
 
9
3.00
 
12
10.43
635
 
10
2.92
 
8
12.06
316
 
6
3.15
 
24
7.46
893
 
1
6.24
 
3
14.66
133
 
16
2.19
 
14
9.55
5,907
Slipping Counties
 
4
3.49
 
28
7.23
4,570
 
15
2.25
 
27
7.24
563
 
14
2.25
 
36
4.65
20,087
 
17
2.11
 
34
5.17
20,429
 
8
3.02
 
32
6.67
5,134
Gaining Counties
 
32
0.48
 
2
16.72
356
 
35
0.19
 
18
8.52
994
 
28
0.65
 
23
8.01
1,712
 
26
1.26
 
19
8.47
538
 
20
1.74
 
22
8.27
4,818
 
25
1.28
 
21
8.38
983
 
33
0.40
 
13
9.75
304
 
30
0.57
 
11
10.81
123
 
24
1.36
 
9
10.95
446
 
19
1.78
 
6
13.42
541
 
27
0.93
 
4
13.59
510
 
29
0.61
 
25
7.29
3,472
Lagging Counties
 
34
0.31
 
37
3.48
1,011
 
18
1.86
 
29
7.06
91,852
 
23
1.37
 
30
6.98
138
 
21
1.57
 
33
6.14
18,944
 
22
1.54
 
31
6.68
2,987
 
31
0.54
 
35
4.82
1,347
Undefined/Suppressed Counties
 
U
U
 
1
22.41
71
 
U
U
 
15
9.38
70
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2.04
 
7.24
211,247
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2.53
 
7.91
12,982,300
November 2023
REAP_PI_CA1500N_511000_LSGL
 
   
Copyright © 2023. Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Analysis Project (PNREAP). All Rights Reserved.

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