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Nationwide, 6,606,000 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 6,606,000 last week. This is 261,000 less than the (upwardly revised) number of claims for the previous week, 6,867,000, which is the record. The 4-week moving average of seasonally adjusted […]

Repealing the balanced budget requirement and financing operating spending with debt would be short-sighted

In Crosscut, University of Washington economist Jacob Vigdor argues that the state should repeal or suspend its balanced budget requirement during the economic downturn, because “This is both a terrible time to raise taxes and a terrible time to cut spending on vital services.” The federal government is in a similar bind, and it’s responding […]

Payroll tax introduced in Seattle City Council

Seattle City Councilmembers Sawant and Morales have introduced three bills related to their effort to impose a new payroll tax in the city. First, CB 119772 would impose a 1.3 percent tax on the payroll expense of every person engaging in business in Seattle with an annual payroll of more than $7 million. Grocery businesses; […]

Federal funding for small business loans may be increased, and the state offers new grants

The third federal aid bill included $349 billion for paycheck protection loans for small businesses. The Wall Street Journal reports, Heavy requests for the previously approved $350 billion in loans are pushing Republican and Democratic lawmakers to consider augmenting the Paycheck Protection Program less than a week after it started accepting loan applications. President Trump […]

Initial claims by industry

I have updated three charts I posted last week on initial claims for unemployment insurance by industry to include data for the week of March 22 to March 28. The first shows initial claims industry as a proportion of the industry’s employment in February: Accommodation and Food Services, and Arts, Entertainment and Recreation remain the […]

Labor and logistical challenges for agriculture these days

Agricultural concerns are—of course—essential businesses. The industry continues to work during this time, but it faces logistical and labor challenges. The Spokesman-Review has a good story on the logistics: While items from flour to eggs have been flying off supermarket shelves, including a wild run on apples, that hasn’t immediately helped farmers in Washington, several […]

Sundry links: Coronavirus, logistics, taxes

Some interesting stories from the past few weeks: Grocers Stopped Stockpiling Food. Then Came Coronavirus. “Just-in-time purchasing has been thrown out the window.” A Coronavirus Fix That Passes the Smell Test “Here might be a free way to get a signal, out of all the noise.” Big Business Is Helping America Survive the Coronavirus “It […]

In Washington 181,975 filed for unemployment insurance last week

This morning the state Employment Security Department reported that it received 181,975 new claims for unemployment insurance during the March 22-28 week. This is an increase of 53,013 over the 128,962 (revised) claims filed during the preceding week. The four-week moving average of claims is 82,910 39, up from 38,838 for the preceding week. We […]

Nationwide, 6,648,000 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, seasonally adjusted claims were a record 6,648,000. This was more than twice the (revised) number of claims for the previous week, 3,307,000, which had been the record. The 4-week moving average of seasonally adjusted claims was 2,612,000, […]

Gov. Inslee expected to veto some of the spending increases passed by the Legislature last month

The Legislature passed a 2020 supplemental budget last month that increases appropriations from funds subject to the outlook plus the workforce education investment account (NGFO+WEIA) by $975.8 million over original 2019–21 appropriations. Of that, $839.5 million is new policy (the rest represents the cost of continuing current services). This is on top of substantial spending […]