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New WRC policy brief makes clear the high price of delaying legislative action on the state budget shortfall.
July 27, 2020The governor and legislative leaders have said they see no reason for an early special session of the Legislature to address the state's nearly $9 billion budget shortfall over the next four years . I…Read more
Optimism falls nationally amidst COVID-19 concerns, more on unemployment numbers, and governor slows reopening.
July 24, 2020Yesterday's unemployment reports - a drop in state UI claims, an increase nationally - are nicely illustrative of the uncertain economic climate. Gone are the days when we expected a relatively early…Read more
Initial regular UI claims last week down 27% from prior week; total claims down nearly 5% from prior week.
July 23, 2020The Employment Security Department reports weekly UI claims declined sharply this past week, but remain extremely high. During the week of July 12 through July 18, there were 29,438 initial regular un…Read more
U.S. experiences rise in unemployment claims for first time in four months, up 1.4 million.
July 23, 2020The economic toll of the pandemic remains unrelenting. Nationally, the Department of Labor reports that weekly initial UI claims rose to 1.4 million last week. In the week ending July 18, the advance…Read more
Seattle City Council votes to spend money it doesn’t have, approves budget for new payroll tax.
July 21, 2020The Seattle City Council voted yesterday to spend money from reserves and identified how the city's new and controversial payroll tax will be spent. (We've written about the jobs tax here, here, and h…Read more
Federal response remains uncertain as COVID-19 cases show strong upsurge. Economic struggles increase.
July 20, 2020State and local governments face plummeting revenues. COVID-19 cases increase rapidly across the country, with Washington now in an "explosive" situation according to a new report. Businesses, state a…Read more
