Kriss Sjoblom

July 11 to August 10 state revenue collections beat forecast by $72.6 million

The economic and revenue forecast council’s monthly Economic & Revenue Update brought a bit of good news today. Here are the key bullet points regarding revenue from the summary: Major General Fund-State revenue collections for the July 11 – August 10, 2013 collection period were $72.6 million (6.2%) higher than the June forecast. The June […]

New COST study ranks Washington 9th highest in the share of state and local taxes paid by businesses

The Council on State Taxation (COST) today released its annual report on state and local business taxes. The report was prepared for COST by Ernst & Young LLC (E&Y) using data for fiscal year 2012. E&Y calculates that in FY 2012 the ratio of state and local taxes paid by businesses in Washington to private […]

Preliminary estimates: state gained 9,800 jobs from May to June, June unemployment rate was 6.8 percent

The state employment security department released the monthly employment report today. The preliminary estimates are that the state added 9,800 jobs (seasonally adjusted) between May and June and that the unemployment rate in June was 6.8 percent (seasonally adjusted). The estimate of the number of jobs added from April to May was increased from 4,100 […]

June 11 to July 10 state revenue collections beat forecast by $7.5 million

The economic and revenue forecast council today issued its monthly Economic & Revenue Update. This provides the first report on collections since the June 18 revision to the revenue forecast. The new forecast is essentially on track: For the June 11 to July 10 period, collections exceeded forecast by $7.5 million (0.6%). The update is […]

Preliminary estimates: state gained 4,100 jobs from April to May, May unemployment rate was 6.8 percent

The state employment security department released the monthly employment report today. The preliminary estimates are that the state added 4,100 jobs (seasonally adjusted) between April and May and that the unemployment rate in May was 6.8 percent (seasonally adjusted). The estimate of the number of jobs added from March to April was decreased from 3,800 […]

New general fund forecast: up $110 million for 2011-13, up $121 million for 2013-15

The state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council met today and approved new forecasts for state revenues. For the current 2011-13 biennium, the general fund-state forecast increased by $110 million; the education legacy trust account forecast decreased by $12 million; and the opportunities pathways account forecast increased by $11 million. For the upcoming 2013-15 biennium, the […]

Video of today's Economic and Revenue Forecast Council meeting

Video from TVW: Here are the slides from Steve Lerch’s presentation.

May 11 to June 10 state revenue collections exceeded forecast by $40 million

The economic and revenue forecast council issued its monthly Economic & Revenue Update today. Here are the key bullet points regarding revenue from the summary: Major General Fund-State revenue collections for the May 11 – June 10, 2013 collection period were $40.0 million (2.3%) higher than the March forecast. Of that amount, however, $10.0 million […]

Video of Economic and Revenue Forecast Council economic review meeting

Executive Director Steve Lerch presented the preliminary June economic forecast at a meeting of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council today. Here is the TVW video of the meeting: And here are the “notebooks” for the meeting, including copies of Dr. Lerch’s slides. As I noted in my May 29 post, the new economic forecast […]

S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index for Seattle

The S&P/Case-Shiller house price indexes for March (based on January, February and March transactions) were released yesterday. The seasonally adjusted (SA) March value for the Seattle Metro area is 148.8. (The unadjusted index for March is 145.2.) The Seattle index peaked in May 2009 with a value of 190.6 (SA). From that point the the […]