About 8,300 Tri-Citians were listed as unemployed in November.

That's up from October's 6,400 jobless people, mostly because of the seasonal change in agriculture work, said Dean Schau, regional economist for the state's Employment Security Department.

Job numbers released Monday show that with an available labor force of 87,600 people, 79,300 Tri-Citians had jobs going into the holidays. A year ago, the labor force was 89,500, with 80,900 of those employed.

Not all the people listed as unemployed really are - some received severance benefits packages to return to college, Schau said. And many discouraged workers want jobs but aren't actively seeking them - and therefore aren't claiming unemployment benefits, so they're not counted in the statistics.

In farm work, employment fell from 10,360 in October to 6,040 for November, Schau said. Still, more agriculture jobs remained than in November 1995, when there were 5,810 such jobs.

The seasonal change also affected nonfarm jobs, which fell from October's 69,800 to November's 69,000.

There was a 200-job gain in retail work, but that was partially offset by a 100-job decrease in wholesale work tied to the potato and apple harvests, Schau said.

"Roughly two-thirds of the movement was seasonal as many local food processing plants took a break from devouring the fall potato harvest," Schau said. He said juice plants and some wineries also showed drops in employment.

Of the nonfarm jobs, 13,240 were at Hanford - as of September. With the change in Hanford contractors, the complete job count isn't yet available for October and November.

"The 1,000 decrease in the total number of nonfarm jobs since a year ago is really encouraging news, since it is likely the smallest over-the-year decline since the announcement of the Hanford force reduction back in mid-1994," Schau said.

"Since November of 1995, industries registering sizable decline include chemicals, construction, trade and services," he said.

Schau said public education still reported increases in employment, "which is a good bellwether for population changes. Even though the Tri-Cities has lost an estimated 6,700 jobs since the peak of June 1994, there has been no apparent large exiting of population."

The Tri-Cities' combined unemployment rate for November was 9.5 percent - the second highest metropolitan area in the state behind Yakima, which has even more agricultural jobs.

Yakima County and city had a November unemployment rate of 13.1 percent, with 14,500 people listed as unemployed. Yakima has a 110,300-person labor force.

Washington's unemployment rate jumped half a percentage point in November to 5.8 percent, as winter weather slowed activity in many industries. The rate, which state officials say is normal, compares with a 5.3 percent rate in October.

In Benton County, the November jobless rate was 8.1 percent, up from 7.1 percent. The county had 5,400 people listed as unemployed last month out of a 66,600-person labor force.

In Franklin County, where much of the seasonal agricultural and food processing work is done, the rate was 13.7 percent - up from 7.2 percent. There were 2,900 people without jobs, out of a 21,100-person labor force. The Tri-Cities' combined October jobless rate was 7.2 percent.

Around the Mid-Columbia, unemployment in November was:

Adams County, 13.4 percent. There were 1,080 people unemployed out of the 8,050-person labor force.

Columbia County, 17.5 percent. There were 210 people without jobs out of the 1,200-person labor force.

Grant County, 10.5 percent. There were 3,450 people listed as unemployed out of the 32,710-person labor force.

Walla Walla County and city, 7.6 percent. There were 1,970 unemployed people out of the 25,800-person labor force.

Statewide, unemployment rates were: Bellingham, 7 percent; Bremerton, 6.7; Olympia, 6.3; Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, 4.1; King County, 4; Snohomish County, 4.4; Island County 4.7; Spokane, 5; Tacoma, 5.4; Asotin, 4.5; Chelan, 10.2; Douglas, 8.2; Clallam, 9.5; Clark, 4.2; Cowlitz, 7.7; Ferry, 10.3; Garfield, 2.1; Grays Harbor, 11.7; Jefferson, 8.6; Kittitas, 6.1; Klickitat, 9.2; Lewis, 9.7; Lincoln, 5.4; Mason, 7.6; Okanogan, 11.6; Pacific, 11.8; Pend Oreille, 16.7; San Juan, 7.4; Skagit, 9.5; Skamania, 9.6; Stevens, 9.9; and Wahkiakum, 6.1 percent.