Kriss Sjoblom

Here's another employment chart

Here is another employment chart using data that the Employment Security Department released today. This chart shows employment separately for the Seattle metro area (defined as King and Snohomish counties) and the balance of the state since February 2008, which is the month statewide employment hit its pre-recession peak. Seattle area employment peaked in August […]

April 11 – May10 state revenue collections were $36.1 million above forecast

Late Monday afternoon the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council issued its monthly Economic and Revenue Update. Here are the key bullets on revenue from the summary: Major General Fund-State revenue collections for the April 11 – May 10, 2014 collection period were $36.1 million (2.9%) higher than the February forecast. Cumulatively, collections are now $61.8 […]

March 11 – April 10 state revenue collections were $12.5 million above forecast

However, the positive variance was due to a $20.7 million one-time assessment payment. Without this unanticipated payment, collections would have been $8.2 million below forecast.  This news comes from the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council’s monthly Economic and Revenue Update, which was issued today. Here are the key bullets on revenue from the summary: Major […]

If college football players are employees, do they owe taxes on their scholarships?

Last week the Director of the National Labor Relations Board’s Chicago region ruled that Northwestern University football players who receive scholarships from the university are “employees” under the terms of the National Labor Relations Act and as such have the legal right to form a union. The Seattle Times story is here; ruling itself is […]

Entrepreneurs leaving France for more friendly locations

In the lead article of the business section of today’s New York Times (Au Revoir, Entrepreneurs), Liz Alderman quotes a young Frenchman, Guillaume Santacruz, who moved from France to London in order to start a new company: “A lot of people are like, ‘Why would you ever leave France?’ ” Mr. Santacruz said. “I’ll tell you. […]

Monthly employment report shows state added 2,500 jobs in February

The state Employment Security Department issued its employment report for February this morning. The preliminary estimate is that seasonally adjusted employment in Washington grew by 2,500 from January to February. The estimate of December to January job growth was revised upward to 5,800. These estimates are based on a survey of a relatively small number […]

February 11 – March 10 state revenue collections were $13.2 million above forecast

The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council issued its monthly Economic and Revenue Update today. Here are the key bullets on revenue from the summary: Major General Fund-State revenue collections for the February 11 – March 10, 2014 collection period were $13.2 million (1.3%) higher than the February forecast. Revenue Act collections were $0.7 million (0.1%) […]

Preliminary estimate: Washington added 3,800 jobs in January

The state Employment Security Department issued its employment report for January this morning. The preliminary estimate is that seasonally adjusted employment in Washington grew by 3,800 from December to January. The estimate of November to December job growth was revised upwards from 4,800 to 6,700.. The estimated seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the state was […]

Washington's carbon emissions in 2011 were the lowest since 1987

The U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) posted new estimates of state carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion earlier this week. EIA estimates that Washington state sources emitted 69.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2011. This was 2.5 percent below the 70.5 million tons emitted in 1990 and represented the lowest emissions total since […]

Seattle ranks well among major cities in Brookings report on income inequality

The Brookings Institution issued a report yesterday on income inequality in the U.S.’s 50 largest cities (available here). The report measures inequality by the “95/20 ratio”, which represents the income at which a household earns more than 95 percent of all other households, divided by the income at which a household earns more than only […]