Economy

Initial claims by industry

I have updated three charts I posted previously showing initial claims for unemployment insurance by sector to include data for the week of March 29 to April 4. The first chart shows initial claims sector as a proportion of the sector’s employment in February: Accommodation and Food Services; Arts, Entertainment and Recreation; and Construction remain […]

In Washington 170,063 filed for unemployment insurance last week

This morning the state Employment Security Department reported that it received 170,063 new claims for unemployment insurance during the March 29-April 4 week. This is a decrease of 11,912 from the 181,975 claims filed during the preceding week. The four-week moving average of claims is 123,721, up from 82,842 for the preceding week. We estimate […]

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 […]

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 […]

State distributes another $45 million for COVID-19 response

Last month the state distributed $74.5 million from the disaster response account (DRA) and $13.3 million from the general fund­–federal (GFF) in response to COVID-19. The Office of Financial Management (OFM) reports that it has distributed more funds: $30 million from the DRA for the Department of Health, $10 million from the DRA for the […]

Gov. Inslee’s vetoes increase unrestricted ending fund balance by about $242 million in 2019–21

Friday afternoon, Gov. Inslee vetoed sections of the operating budget and numerous bills that affected state revenues. (Here is his operating budget veto message and here is a table of the vetoes. Here is our policy brief on the budget as passed by the Legislature.) Accounting for his vetoes, appropriations from funds subject to the […]

Recognizing the negative budget outlook, Gov. Inslee vetoes portions of four policy bills

Yesterday Gov. Inslee signed several bills. He also vetoed sections of four policy bills in recognition of the changing outlook for the operating budget. The vetoes and the rationale behind them: Three pilot projects for law enforcement officer behavioral health in SSB 6570: “With the rapidly changing environment related to the state’s response to COVID-19 […]

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 […]