Skagit unemployment up in March

But a local economist said the most puzzling part of Skagit’s job report, released Tuesday by the state Employment Security Department, is that the local labor force seems to be shrinking.

“You have to ask ‘Why?’ Is it because people have lost their jobs and are still here, or have they actually left?” asked Hart Hodges, associate professor of Economics and director of the Center for Economic and Business Research at Western Washington University.