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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 […]

Gov. Inslee mandates paid leave for food production workers

Yesterday, Gov. Inslee issued a proclamation prohibiting “any food production employer from continuing to operate between August 18, 2020, and November 13, 2020, unless the food production employer . . . provides its workers . . . with emergency supplemental paid sick leave . . . for a qualifying event.” Washington’s regular paid sick leave […]

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. […]

Monthly Employment Report

The state Employment Security Department released its Monthly Employment Report for April this morning. According to preliminary estimates from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the state lost 527,000 jobs, net, seasonally adjusted (SA), from March to April. This estimate is based on BLS’s monthly survey of employers, which counts as employed all persons […]

Fraudsters attack state unemployment insurance system

Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi LeVine today reported that the state unemployment insurance system has suffered a rash of fraudulent claims” Since the start of May – and particularly in the past week – the Employment Security Department has seen a significant rise in reports of impostor fraud. This is where bad actors have stolen […]

Recapping last week: UI, federal aid, construction

Although initial unemployment insurance (UI) claims for the week of April 12–18 dropped in last week’s report from the Employment Security Department (ESD), they were still the fifth-highest in state history. Continuing claims increased to 523,126. Since March 1, arts, entertainment and recreation; construction; and accommodation and food services are still the sectors with the […]

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 […]

Paycheck protection loans and startups

As the Association of Washington Business writes, small businesses may apply for the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) beginning tomorrow. These forgivable loans were funded in the third federal aid bill and are meant to be used for payroll and other costs (more details here). Startups may not be eligible for these loans, according to […]

Updates on the second federal aid bill’s UI and paid sick leave provisions

The $2 trillion federal aid bill enacted last week was the third bill related to COVID-19. The second aid bill, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, was signed March 18, 2020. It includes $1 billion in unemployment insurance administrative grants for states. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued guidance for state workforce agencies […]