Friday Roundup: Permitting and housing costs, Seattle rents, white-collar jobs, new teachers rank higher academically

There are always a few items we’ve read during the week that deserve more attention but don’t make it into our regular posts. So we bundle them for the Friday roundup.

Here’s this week’s bundle:

Wall Street Journal: Building Permit Delays Choke U.S. Housing Supply, Study Shows

The supply of new housing in the U.S. isn’t keeping up with demand in part because of local delays in getting building permits approved, according to new research set to be released next week by real estate tracker Trulia.

The study finds that in metro areas with longer delays in building and zoning approvals, developers are less quick to respond with new housing units when prices are rising and demand is high.

Seattle Times: Seattle rents now growing faster than in any other U.S. city

The typical monthly rent in the Seattle metro area surpassed $2,000 for the first time this spring and is up 9.7 percent in the past year — growing at nearly four times the national average, Zillow’s data shows. That’s more than second-place Portland (up 9 percent), and third-place San Francisco (up 7.4 percent).

New Geography: The U.S. Cities Creating the Most White-Collar Jobs, 2016

In many ways, the business and professional service sector may be the best indicator of future U.S. economic growth. It is not nearly as vulnerable to disruption as energy, manufacturing or information employment, and more deeply integrated into the economy, including professions like administrative services and management, legal services, scientific research, and computer systems and design.  In a pattern we have seen in other sectors, much of the growth is concentrated in two very different kinds of places: tech-rich metro areas and those that offer lower costs, and often more business-friendly atmospheres.

Seattle Times: New teachers rate higher academically than in the past

Analyzing data from nearly 3,000 recent teacher hires teachers across the country, researchers at the University of Washington, Stanford University and the Rand Corporation found the profession is attracting applicants with higher test scores, who report much greater job satisfaction than those entering the classroom 15 years ago — especially in cities.

To export more, manufacturers need more open markets overseas. And that is precisely what the TPP will do. The TPP will open markets and level the playing field in these 11 markets in many ways, including by eliminating all tariffs paid and other foreign discriminatory barriers, setting stronger investment and intellectual property protections, and putting in place strong new enforcement rules.

Unemployment rates ticked up noticeably in six states in June, even as employers continued to add jobs and the hiring outlook improved. The unemployment rate in 21 states is now significantly below the national figure of 4.9 percent, while it’s higher in 14 states.