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More good news on state tax collections

Wednesday’s monthly report from the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC) on general fund revenue collections brought more good news. For the sales tax, the use tax, the business and occupation tax, the public utility tax, the tobacco products tax, and penalties and interest (collectively the Revenue Act receipts), this report covers payments received […]

Monthly employment report from the state employment security department

The state Employment Security Department released its Monthly Employment Report today. The report included preliminary estimates of employment for August and revised estimates of employment for June and July. According to preliminary estimates from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the state gained 19,800 jobs, net, seasonally adjusted (SA), from July to August. This […]

Personal income, consumer spending and saving rates during the Covid-19 recession

Here are two very interesting charts regarding income and consumer spending during the Covid-19 recession. On the first chart, the stacked columns show estimated personal income for the U.S. as a whole, by month, from January 2019 through July 2020. The numbers are seasonally adjusted annual rates. I have broken personal income into four parts: […]

Nationwide, 884,000 filed for unemployment insurance last week

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued its weekly report on initial claims for unemployment insurance this morning. Nationwide, the number of seasonally adjusted claims was 884,000 last week. This is unchanged from the (upwardly revised) number of claims for the previous week. The 4-week moving average of seasonally adjusted claims was 970,750, down from […]

Washington’s imports and exports increased in July, but trade is still below 2019 levels

Trade data released by the U.S. Census Bureau today shows that the value of exports from Washington increased by 15.0 percent in July, after falling 39.1 percent from February to June. Meanwhile, the value of imports to Washington increased by 35.4 percent from May to July, after falling 11.0 percent from February to May. But, […]

In Washington 28,871 filed initial claims for 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 28,871 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the August 23–29 week. Of this total, 18,172 initial claims were under the regular unemployment insurance program; 4,590 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, […]

Unemployment insurance tax rates will be much higher next year

Unemployment insurance tax rates are adjusted annually and will be much higher next year. Most employers qualify to participate in the experience rating system. Under this system each employer is assigned to one of forty rate classes, based upon its benefit ratio, which is calculated by dividing total benefits charged to the employer’s account by […]

In Washington 28,656 filed initial claims for 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 28,656 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the August 16–22 week. Of this total, 18,389 initial claims were under the regular unemployment insurance program; 4,256 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, […]

Work sharing

Washington state is prominently featured in a Saturday New York Times article on “work sharing,” which is an unemployment insurance program that pays partial unemployment benefits to workers who have had their hours reduced. Work sharing programs are extraordinarily popular among economists, Republican and Democratic policymakers, employers and workers — at least those who have […]

Washington’s Poorest ZIP Codes are Spending Less in Recent Weeks

A previous blog post used a data set of real-time economic statistics compiled by Raj Chetty and his team at Opportunity Insights to break down Washington state consumer spending by industry. Chart 1 uses the same data set to track rates of consumer spending in Washington state ZIP codes with different median incomes. The vertical […]