State monthly employment report
The state Employment Security Department issued its Monthly Labor Report for March today. The period covered by this report (the pay period including March 12) was somewhat impacted by COVID-19. However, most of the pandemic’s impact on jobs came after this period, and hence the numbers reported today do not accurately reflect current labor market […]
18,906 Washington small businesses have received paycheck protection loans
Yesterday the Small Business Administration (SBA) released some data on the paycheck protection program. The program offers forgivable loans to small businesses, and it was funded with $349 billion in the third federal aid bill. Nationally, 1,035,086 loans have been made in the amount of $247.5 million. (The data is through April 13.) Loans made […]
Reductions in treasury service fee could save state agencies $13 million
Last year state Treasurer Duane Davidson reduced the treasury service fee from 0.32 percent to 0.25 percent. Now, to help the state during the downturn, he has reduced the fee to 0.2 percent. Together, the reductions are expected to save state agencies $13 million. The treasurer “stated that he would consider lowering the fee even […]
Treasury releases more information on aid for state and local governments
This week Treasury released more information on the $150 billion relief fund for state and local governments. Treasury confirmed that the total allocation for Washington (state and qualifying local governments) is $2.953 billion. Eligible local governments are King County, Seattle, Pierce County, Snohomish County, and Spokane County. They must apply for the funds by April […]
14th of April 2020
More estimates of local government shortfalls, and an AG memo on local government options to help individuals and businesses during this time
Snohomish County expects a $24 million (about 10 percent) hit to its general fund budget. In response, the county is considering freezing hiring, eliminating discretionary raises, and cancelling travel and training. According to the Everett Herald, the County Council will consider two hiring freeze ordinances tomorrow: One would last through the end of the year and […]
13th of April 2020
Seattle real estate market still hot for now
The Wall Street Journal has an article about the Seattle-area real estate market: Despite Stay-at-Home Order, Seattle’s Real-Estate Market Continues to Show Up Multiple offers. Bidding wars. All-cash deals hours after listings go live: This is all still happening in Seattle, the city that four weeks ago was considered an epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic, […]
The economic downturn could increase the number of Medicaid clients in Washington by 17–37 percent
Health Management Associates (HMA) has modeled what could happen with health insurance coverage in the states during this downturn. They consider low, medium, and high unemployment scenarios and find that, nationally, “All three scenarios result in a significant shift from the number of Americans covered by employer provided insurance to some form of Medicaid or […]
Governors say states should get $500 billion more to address shortfalls
On Saturday, the National Governors Association (NGA) asked Congress to increase federal aid funds for state governments and make them more flexible. The third coronavirus aid bill (CARES Act) that was passed in March included $150 billion to be shared by state, local, and tribal governments. The funds must be used for needs related to […]
10th of April 2020
More on initial claims
Yesterday I posted a chart showing initial claims for unemployment insurance in Washington from March 1 to April 4 by individual sector as a percentage of sector employment. Here is an update to this chart that includes a bar for private employers overall: From March 1 to April 4, overall private sector claims were 14.9 […]
Washington’s public higher education institutions and their students will receive $185.3 million from federal aid bill
The third federal aid bill included $14.2 billion for a higher education emergency relief fund, for needs related to coronavirus. The U.S. Department of Education announced yesterday how $12.5 billion of that will be distributed. Of the allocation amounts, half must be used for financial aid grants to students. Department of Education Secretary DeVos said, […]