There are some interesting numbers buried in the just-released statewide unemployment report, which, on the whole, had some really positive news for the state's economy.

• Economists - and wannabes like me - have been saying for months that hiring for high-wage jobs at Boeing and Microsoft will continue to drive the Puget Sound economy, and thus the state's. Sure enough, the state added 7,000 aerospace workers (up 9.1 percent) and 1,500 software workers (up 3.2 percent).
• Overall, Washington's economy generated 96,690 more jobs in 2007 - roughly equal to the population of Everett.
• The state's 3-percent job growth was much better than the national job growth, which was an anemic 1 percent.
• The construction industry did not see a sharp fall-off, even though housing starts declined. For the year, statewide employment in the construction industry grew by 2,500 workers. That's only 1.3 percent growth - but it's growth nonetheless, and it adds credence to the notion that a surge in commercial real estate construction is offsetting declines in new home building.
• However, the "real estate industrial complex" - finance/insurance/real estate - shed 300 workers last year, a drop of 0.8 percent. It could have been worse, given the 26 percent drop in home sales statewide, but we can expect that number will go up in '08, as Washington Mutual closes down its subprime mortgage operations.

Job growth was not evenly spread through the state.

The Tri-Cities were hot, growing their workforce by a state-leading 5.4 percent. West of the mountains, both Bellingham and Clark County showed healthy 3.9-percent growth. Hot farm economies in Moses Lake and Adams County generated job growth of close to 4 percent. And over in the lower right-hand corner, Asotin County recorded a 4.1-percent jump - only 400 jobs, but still, that's significant in Clarkston.

However, some of the places we think of as booming showed relatively stagnant job growth: Bremerton, Spokane and Yakima may have vibrant new downtowns, but their labor markets all grew less than 2 percent - the same in Wenatchee, even with its hot housing market. The new wineries, restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts in Walla Walla generated only 0.3 percent job growth. And December's flood washed away 430 Lewis County jobs - Centralia's job totals were down 1.5 percent year-over-year.

Bottom line: Statewide, the jobs picture is brighter than the national outlook, and some communities are growing rapidly. A handful of regions are lagging behind, but even there - in most cases - the growth is generally better than the national norm.