Blog

Continuing to compete for aerospace work

In today’s Everett Herald, Troy McClelland and Richard Cooper present a strong case for continued work on our state’s competitiveness. McClelland is president of Economic Alliance Snohomish County and Cooper, CEO of The Everett Clinic, serves as the Alliance’s board chair. They point out that, while it’s great for our economy that Boeing decided to build […]

Risk of economic slowdown reinforces need for a sustainable state budget

The Wall Street Journal headline sounds the alarm: Job Growth Loses Steam The government’s main snapshot of the labor market showed employers added 120,000 jobs in March, half the upwardly revised number of the month before. That snapped a three-month streak of 200,000-plus jobs growth, the economy’s best showing since 2006. There were bright spots: […]

Preliminary Employment Estimates Show 4,200 Jobs Added in Washington in February, Estimate of January Gain Reduced

The state Employment Security Department today issued its Monthly Employment Report for February. The preliminary estimates are that the state added 4,200 nonfarm jobs (seasonally adjusted) from January to February and that the unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) for the state stood at 8.2 percent in February (down from a revised 8.4 percent in January). Because […]

Taxes in play for 2012 campaigns and 2013 legislative session

In my column this morning, I briefly review some of the trial balloons floated this session by advocates of higher taxes. In addition, I cite three recent studies examining our state’s business tax burden. We’ve written about the business tax research here previously. The three studies are the Tax Foundation’s Location Matters report, TF’s best […]

Initial Monthly Estimates of Washington Employment Are Subject to Error

The state’s Employment Security Department (ESD) releases monthly estimates of the number of nonfarm jobs in the state. (The schedule for this year’s releases is here.) These estimates are prepared in conjunction with the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Current Employment Statistics program (CES). By their nature, these survey-based estimates are subject to considerable […]

Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Down

Unemployment insurance claims data are released every Thursday. This week’s report was a good one: Nationally, the seasonally adjusted number of initial claims fell by 14,000 to 351,000, while the four-week moving average was unchanged at 355,750. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) press release is here. Calculate Risk has charts here. The numbers for […]

February 11 – March 10 state revenue collections were $7.7 million less than forecast

The monthly collections report is out today. The headline number is not too bad: “Major General Fund-State revenue collections for the February 11 – March 10, 2012 collection period were $7.7 million … lower than the February forecast." However, the underlying detail is weaker than the headline: "Revenue Act collections for the current period came […]

Budget negotiations must include Senate Rs, centrists

That’s the thrust of my column this morning. While Democrats may want to ignore the Friday vote, the bipartisan coalition that passed the Senate budget must be included in the final resolution. For those of us for whom sustainability is a top priority, the Senate budget sets the state on the right path. …Reconciling the […]

Billions of dollars in new taxes if preferences are repealed

HB 2762, the subject of an earlier blog post today, would repeal tax preferences worth $3.7 billion in the current biennium. Small businesses, farms, corporations, nonprofits, churches, transit agencies, cities and counties … too many groups to list here .. would all face tax increases. For some, the increases are fivefold. See this 8-page list for scheduled repeal […]

Bill to repeal tax preferences threatens jobs and investment

In the closing days of the legislative session, a HB 2762, a bill “to periodically expire all nonconstitutionally required tax preferences that are not already subject to expiration” may be getting new life. It passed out of House Ways and Means Committee March 3, on a party-line vote. What “to periodically expire” means is that on […]