Blog

Recommendations for Washington from the Senate’s Special Committee on Economic Recovery

Last May, the Senate formed the bipartisan Special Committee on Economic Recovery “to address the state’s long-term economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.” After four meetings last year, the committee released its recommendations this week. There is a lot here, and some recommendations are more specific than others. They are grouped in five categories. Some […]

Bill would exempt amounts businesses have received in government-funded grants and forgiven loans from the B&O tax (and other state taxes)

Through Aug. 8, 2020, 107,659 paycheck protection program (PPP) loans were made to businesses in Washington. The total amount of the loans was $12.465 billion. Nationally, $525.012 billion was loaned to 5,212,128 businesses. The program was first established in the federal CARES Act, to provide funding for businesses—mainly to keep employees on the payroll during […]

In Washington 27,147 filed initial claims for regular unemployment insurance last week

This morning the state Employment Security Department (ESD) gave its weekly report on unemployment insurance claims. ESD reported a total of 41,947 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending January 9. Of this total, 27,147 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 5,220 claims were under the federal pandemic […]

New brief: Unemployment Insurance Taxes Will Be a Headwind for the State Economy

Unemployment insurance tax rates are adjusted annually and will be much higher this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The amount of unemployment insurance tax paid by Washington businesses is expected to increase dramatically, from $1.12 billion in 2020 to $2.11 billion in 2021 and then to $2.99 billion in 2022. This rising UI tax […]

The prospects for early action on relief this legislative session

Today is the first day of the 2021 legislative session. At the annual Associated Press Legislative Preview last week, Gov. Inslee, House Speaker Jinkins, House Minority Leader Wilcox, Sen. Dhingra, and Sen. Short talked about the session. There seemed to be agreement on the need to act quickly to provide relief, and that the rainy […]

In Washington 29,651 filed initial claims for regular unemployment insurance last week

This morning the state Employment Security Department (ESD) gave its weekly report on unemployment insurance claims. ESD reported a total of 78,064 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending December 26. Of this total, 29,651 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 5,818 claims were under the federal pandemic […]

In Washington 19,192 filed initial claims for regular unemployment insurance last week

This morning the state Employment Security Department (ESD) gave its weekly report on unemployment insurance claims. ESD reported a total of 37,237 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending December 26. Of this total, 19,192 initial claims were under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 3,918 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment […]

Rental assistance funding in Gov. Inslee’s budget proposals and federal relief bills

The new federal relief bill appropriates $25 billion for emergency rental assistance. It will be distributed to states and local governments using the same methodology as the Coronavirus Relief Fund (except local governments will get direct federal allocations if their populations exceed 200,000 instead of 500,000). It’s not clear how much Washington will receive, but […]

Washington will use federal CARES Act funds to provide “pandemic relief payments” in response to the lapse in federal unemployment insurance benefits

Earlier this month, Gov. Inslee announced that Washington would use $54.6 million of the state’s share of the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) for unemployment insurance benefits for people in the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, if the federal government didn’t act to extend the program before it was set to expire on Dec. […]

Update on personal income, consumer spending and saving rates during the Covid-19 recession

Here are updates of two charts I have previously posted regarding income and consumer spending during the Covid-19 recession, including new numbers for November and revisions to numbers for prior months. Both personal income and personal consumption expenditures were down nationally in November compared to October. On the first chart, the stacked columns show estimated […]