February Economic and Revenue Update
The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council's February Economic and Revenue Update was released today. The key number is $44.8 million. This is the cumulative shortfall in collections over the three months since the November update to the general fund revenue forecast. Today's report increases the likelihood that the next revision to the revenue forecast, which […]
February 10 , 2011 - Kriss Sjoblom
Tuition Transfer
This follow-up to Emily’s earlier post on the Senate’s early action supplemental budget proposal (Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1086) provides a bit more detail with respect to higher education. The Senate-passed early action budget (the Senate Ways and Means Committee staff summary of the chair’s proposal is available here, the bill [big file] is available […]
February 08 , 2011 - Kriss Sjoblom
Is Manufacturing Back?
John Talton had a column titled “Manufacturing Is Back, But It Isn’t Pretty” in the Sunday Seattle Times. He sure got the “it isn’t pretty” part right. Here are three charts to give some perspective on how manufacturing has fared in and after the Great Recession:
February 04 , 2011 - Kriss Sjoblom
Union Membership in Washington State, 2010
In January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual report on union membership, which shows that Washington remains the 4th most highly unionized state in the nation. In 2010, 19.4 percent of Washington workers were members of a union. This is down from the 20.2 percent reported for 2009. Nationally, 11.9 percent of workers […]
January 25 , 2011 - Kriss Sjoblom
Washington drops from 5th to 6th in Milken Science and Technology Index
The Milken Institute today released its 2010 State Science and Technology Index. Washington fell to 6th from the 5th place it held in the 2008 Milken rankings, while Utah moved up to 5th from 8th. Massachusetts, Maryland, Colorado and California retained the top four spots. The report notes: Washington slipped to sixth overall this year […]
January 25 , 2011 - Kriss Sjoblom
S&P/Case-Shiller Indices Show Seattle-Area House Prices Continue to Decline
Standard and Poor’s today released the S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Indices for November. S&P’s Davd Blitzer noted: “With these numbers more analysts will be calling for a double-dip in home prices.” As the chart below shows, Seattle’s first dip has yet to hit bottom. The November value of the seasonally adjusted index for Seattle is 140.77, […]
January 13 , 2011 - Kriss Sjoblom
Pacific Place Garage
Fewer people have been parking at the city of Seattle’s Pacific Place garage, and the facility is losing money as a result. In an op-ed in today’s Seattle Times, Matt Griffin and I suggest that the city should cut rates to regain volume. For a garage, even more so than an office building, the capital […]
January 11 , 2011 - Kriss Sjoblom
January Collections Report
The Office of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council today released the January Economic and Revenue Update. The “headline” numbers show collections for the most recent month to be $36.9 million (3.4 percent) greater than anticipated under the November revenue forecast. Cumulatively, for the two months since the November forecast, revenues are $61.0 million (2.3 […]
December 24 , 2010 - Kriss Sjoblom
Governor Gregoire’s 2011–13 Budget Proposal
Our Policy Brief on Gov. Gregoire’s 2011–13 budget proposal is available here.
December 13 , 2010 - Kriss Sjoblom
December Revenue Collections Report
The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council’s monthly Economic and Revenue Update came out today. Revenue for the November 11 to December 10 collection period was $1,593.4 million, $24.1 greater than had been forecast. However, $20.9 million of the $24.1 million positive variance was due to one-time items such as audit payments and unclaimed property transfers […]