Looking for a job in Bellingham? Here’s what the market looks like this summer
The weather is heating up in Bellingham but that doesn’t necessarily mean the job market is.
Between seasonal employees and recent college graduates joining the workforce, plenty of people are looking for work as the summer gets underway. But are there enough jobs out there?
The Herald spoke to Corey Salas, employment programs coordinator at the Opportunity Council, and Stacey Snodgrass, general manager of staffing agency Express Employment Professionals’ Bellingham branch, to get a sense of what the market looks like for job seekers in Whatcom County right now, with a look ahead for the summer.
Here’s what they had to say.
Bellingham job market outlook
According to Salas, the Bellingham job market has been a bit slow as companies try to understand the impacts of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
“We’re in a really hard time post-COVID, and especially right now with tariffs, we have a lot of slowing down. All across Washington state have been pretty as I’m sure you’ve already heard, pretty big losses or lack of expected revenue, and that really hits hard here in Whatcom County, where we’re about as far north and west as you can get before hitting the Canadian border,” Salas said in a video call with the Herald.
But both Salas and Snodgrass said that summer brings opportunity for job seekers.
“I would say in the summertime it does do an uptick of more projecty work and different events that are going on in the community,” Snodgrass said in a video interview.
Snodgrass added that temporary jobs tend to become available over the summer.
“We get a lot more temporary positions, a lot of labor type positions, a lot of vacation fillings on the administrative professional side,” Snodgrass said.
Salas pointed to Whatcom County’s tourism industry as a great place to find seasonal work over the summer.
“People forget, we’re also becoming a hotter spot for visiting, just for recreation, for getting out and about, and the summer [is] huge for Bellingham,” Salas said.
Another few prominent industries in the area are busiest during the warmer months as well.
“Agricultural changes with berry season… The fishing industry is big. The maritime trade is actually really big here,” Salas said.
But Salas added that this summer has been slower than usual.
“It’s usually that hiring uptick before summer, before school’s out,” Salas said. “Obviously, we’re a bit past that now, but we’re not quite seeing the same swing that we have in years past. It is a lot slower.”
The food manufacturing industry has also been active in the Whatcom County job market lately, according to Snodgrass. These opportunities can be difficult to fill, though, since they’re often located outside of Bellingham.
“A really strong trend is food manufacturing. They are so busy and I would say we work with several different food manufacturing companies and they’re all very busy,” Snodgrass said. “They all need more people and they’re all struggling to get people.”
Snodgrass said that’s common for businesses located in the less densely-populated parts of Whatcom County, which she said struggle to attract employees due to lack of transportation or the fact that Bellingham has a higher minimum wage than the rest of the county. Salas hasn’t noticed the new citywide minimum wage affecting the job market, but said that transportation is a significant roadblock for potential hires.
Notable job listings around Bellingham
We looked at some of the more notable employers around Bellingham to see what job opportunities they have.
The City of Bellingham currently has three job listings on its website posted within the last two weeks, all within the police department:
Police Officer Recruit ($6,768 a month)
What-Comm (police dispatch unit) Deputy Director ($117,252 to $142,536 a year)
What-Comm Public Safety Telecommunicator/police dispatcher ($30.63 an hour)
Whatcom County also has three current job listings that were posted within the last two weeks:
Legal Assistant for the Prosecuting Attorney’s office ($21.89 to $33.17 an hour)
Medicolegal Death Investigator ($31.54 to $45.48 an hour)
Court Clerk, Clerk’s Office ($21.02 to $31.87 an hour)
PeaceHealth has 119 full-time and 34 part-time jobs in Bellingham listed on its website. That includes listings for nurses, technicians, medical assistants, patient support staff and doctors, among other roles.
Western Washington University currently has over 70 non-faculty jobs listed on its website. However, the university has announced a series of layoffs in an attempt to chip away at its budget deficit. The “frequently asked questions” section of its webpage about the layoffs states that “while reductions are being made, some critical positions may still be filled.”
There are several other online resources that can help you find a job in Bellingham. Here are the links to current listings in Bellingham on job search websites Indeed, ZipRecruiter and Glassdoor.
Other employment resources
The Opportunity Council offers one-on-one career counseling, as well as resume and interview help to people who are eligible for food assistance or community supports programs. A few other organizations offer similar services, including Evergreen Goodwill’s Job Training and Education Center. There will be a job fair at Goodwill’s 1115 E Sunset Drive location on July 22.
Sustainable Connections, a nonprofit focused on sustainable and equitable economic development, maintains its own local job board as well. WorkSource Washington, a partnership of organizations across the state, provides job search resources.