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A side-by-side of Seattle business tax proposals

Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda has proposed a new “payroll expense” tax; it has not been officially introduced, but a draft will be discussed in a budget committee meeting today. The proposal is similar to the payroll expense tax introduced by councilmembers Sawant and Morales in April. The table below compares the proposals. Notably, the […]

Washington’s average wage was up 6.7 percent in 2019. This will affect several state programs.

The Employment Security Department (ESD) reports that Washington’s average annual wage increased to $69,000 in 2019. The average weekly wage increased from $1,255 in 2018 to $1,340 in 2019 (6.7 percent). Unemployment insurance (UI) taxes and benefits, workers’ compensation benefits, and paid family and medical leave benefits are all tied to the average weekly wage. […]

June report on state tax collections

The state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC) released its June report on state general fund revenue collections today. This is the second collections report to show the effect of COVID-19 on state revenues. For the sales tax, the use tax, the business and occupation tax, the public utility tax, the tobacco products tax, and […]

$129.754 billion left in paycheck protection program, and the Fed cautions that small businesses are “particularly vulnerable” in this recession

According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), 94,873 businesses in Washington have received $12.094 billion in paycheck protection loans (through June 12). The SBA estimates that there is $129.754 billion of funding left for the program. Applications must be made before the end of June, so it seems unlikely that the funding will be exhausted. […]

Recapping last week: UI claims, state budget saving options, state employee raises

National and state initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) continued to decline last week. But, as Kriss’s charts show, they were still substantially higher than they were during the Great Recession. With last week’s report, the accommodation and food services and health services and social assistance sectors have had the highest number of initial claims […]

Initial claims by sector

Here are four charts presentinginitial claims for unemployment insurance reported by Washington state’s Employment Security Department (ESD) by sector for the period from March 1 to June 6. A note of caution about initial claims numbers: In May, Washington’s unemployment insurance system was hit by a rash of fraudulent claims (press release here). As a […]

In Washington 49,477 filed initial claims for unemployment insurance last week

This morning the state Employment Security Department (ESD) gave its weekly report on unemployment insurance claims. A note of caution about initial claims numbers: In May, Washington’s unemployment insurance system was hit by a rash of fraudulent claims (press release here). As a result, the weekly unemployment insurance claims data released by ESD have overstated […]

Nationwide, 1,542,000 filed for unemployment insurance last week

The U.S. Department of Labor issued its weekly report on initial claims for unemployment insurance this morning. Nationwide, the number of seasonally adjusted claims was 1,542,000 last week. This is 355,000 less than the (upwardly revised) number of claims for the previous week, 1,897,000. The 4-week moving average of seasonally adjusted claims was 2,002,000, down […]

Recapping last week: Jobs, UI claims, federal action

National employment increased by 2.5 million in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday. With that gain, the national unemployment rate dropped to 13.3 percent (from 14.7 percent in April). The increase in jobs was unexpected—many economists were estimating further declines. Although this is a positive sign, 13.3 percent unemployment is still […]

Ugly trade data for March and April show impact of downturn

One of the negative indicators in this week’s economic forecast from the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council is exports: Washington exports declined over the year for a sixth consecutive quarter. Year-over-year exports decreased 35.1% in the first quarter of 2020. The large decline was mostly because of transportation equipment exports (mostly Boeing planes) which fell […]