This just in from the Employment Security Department: Washington added 12,400 jobs in January — a first since Nov. 2008.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, went slightly up — from 9.2 percent in December to 9.3 percent in January. (Confused about December’s figure of 9.2 percent? It was originally reported as 9.5 percent, but was adjusted to 9.2 percent during the review process, where they survey more claims.)

Some bad news: “An estimated 359,500 people (not seasonally adjusted) in Washington were unemployed and looking for work in January. More than 305,000 people received unemployment benefits from Washington state in January.”

Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a press release that the news is a positive sign. “We have implemented several strategies to create jobs, and it’s paying off. There is more we can and should do – that’s why I continue to work with leaders at both the state and federal levels to develop additional proposals that will put people to work.

Need to find work? Go here or call 877-872-5627.

Tags: Jobs, unemployment

This week’s Q&A is all about jobs: The Governor, Senate and House Republicans, House Democrats and Senate Democrats have each introduced their own “jobs packages.” I wanted to find out: What are the philosophies behind (a couple of) them, who would benefit, and where is there common ground. I spoke with Sen. Jim Kastama, a Democrat, and Sen. Janea Holmquist, a Republican.

I always learn something in these interviews, and this week is no exception. Keep reading and you’ll find details on plans that are still in the works, including a BRAC-style government reform commission, a bill to protect Initiative 960 and more.

First, Sen. Kastama. This interview was conducted Wednesday evening in his office.

Q: There are four jobs packages. What are the crucial elements of yours?

Kastama: I think the Senate we have made it pretty clear we are continuing on the economic agenda we set last year.
We have to focus on the here and now. Sixty-five percent of the employment growth that we’re going to get coming out of this is in small business. That’s what our proposal is focused on.
First, work force. We’re going to make sure that there’s money in the budget to educate approximately 6,000 people who are unemployed and could be working in these jobs that are highly in demand. We’re going to make sure that happens.
I just had a proposal in higher education to create a dedicated funding source by converting the lottery’s purpose to higher education specifically. In other states where they have done it, it’s allowed them to market the lottery for the purpose it goes to and they sell far more tickets. In Georgia, it increased sales to $800 million and they’ve sent a million students to college with their Hope Scholarship
Our lottery, unfortunately, has flattened out. We bring in $130 million. We really can’t market it for what it goes toward, which is K-12 education because if we say it’s going to education, local school districts worry their bonds and levies won’t pass. So what they tell people is, buy a lottery ticket and you’ll get a swimming pool or a nice house. They’ll buy a lot more if they think it’s going to an altruistic purpose.
So, we’re looking at the workforce and infrastructure. We had a tax increment financing bill – a minor adjustment to the tax increment financing bill that we passed last year. For very little money — $2.6 million — you can bring thousands of jobs to Washington state.
And we want to coordinate the whole green industry in order to do weatherization better, to emphasize job growth.
Transportation: We will keep the $4 billion that we have in transportation going through the biennium. That’s a good budget item that actually does provide good paying jobs.

We also want to invest in entrepreneurship. We want to make sure that Washington state is a good place for companies to thrive and to start, so we’re putting in place many things that will help. One is that small business assistance will be able to expand services.

(more…)

Tags: Holmquist, Jobs, Kastama, Thursday Q&A

I’m watching the press conference on job creation that the Senate Democrats held at lunchtime. It will be posted to TVW later today. One thing that has caught my ear: Sen. Chris Marr said construction estimates are coming in under what’s been budgeted.

“And I mean significantly under. Just as an example, a week ago we found out the Snoqualmie Pass project that was originally estimated at $110 million is coming in at $76 million — $34 million will fund a lot of other projects,” he said. “So, in this environment we can fund more Tier 2 projects as well.”

Sen. Derek Kilmer talked about one of the Senate Democrats’ plan to retrain about 6,000 workers. “The challenge we have is this: If you look at the demand for worker retraining, the trend line is directly proportionate to rising unemployment. So as unemployment goes up, the demand for worker retraining goes up,” he said, which can overwhelm community and technical colleges. Edmonds Community College, for example, has a waiting list of 200 people. “Our current budget funds about 6,200 of these worker retraining slots,” he said, and the colleges “through a rather Herculean effort” are serving about 9,000. The Senate bill would fund another 6,000 slots.

Tags: Budget, construction, Jobs

With Washington’s 2009 Legislative session in the rearview mirror, it’s a good time to look at what neighboring states are up to.

A recent account of the Oregon Legislature from The Oregonian reads like a rerun: Gov. Ted Kulongoski is in favor of a high-earners income tax (similar to what was proposed and dropped here), minority Republicans have proposed a budget that rolls back spending levels to the previous biennium and does not raise taxes, they’re looking at merging boards, commissions and agencies … the list goes on!

Kulongoski is also eyeing the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund — but for different reasons. (Washington tapped its very healthy UI trust fund to increase unemployment benefits temporarily and permanently increase the minimum payment.) He wants to use $90 million to create about 12,000 low-wage community service jobs for the summer. Oregon’s unemployment tops 12 percent — a figure Kulongoski deemed an “emergency.”

The Oregonian quoted Kulongoski: “President Roosevelt gave hope to millions of unemployed Americans when he created the Civilian Conservation Corps and other jobs programs… We need to take the same kind of immediate action in Oregon.”

Want more information on how other states’ budgets look? Check out this interactive map at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Tags: budget shortfall, Jobs, Oregon

I’m listening to the Transportation Project Funding press conference, where lawmakers are discussing plans for using federal stimulus money for $300 million in transportation projects around the state.

Rep. Judy Clibborn said they chose not to fund any projects on local lists. (Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said this morning that he was disappointed that none of Seattle’s projects made the list.)

“Make sure you look at the local list so that you know the full picture,” she said.

Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen said the bill would act fast: “By June, there will be people working,” she said. “There won’t be many places in this state that won’t have construction projects.” In fact, she said to the audience of reporters, she was sure they’d be soon writing about the traffic in their cities and towns.

Sen. Chris Marr: “As you probably noted, I don’t have a project in here in my district,” he said. But he feels strongly about the package because they chose the transportation projects with the highest impact. “If I was writing this list as a PR exercise to get votes on the floor, it might look a little different.”

“There are a few things that we will be able to point to and say, the stimulus did this,” Clibborn said. She cited the I-90 corridor. “It is a way to say that we are committed to preserving what we have.”

Clibborn, addressing the lack of funding for Seattle projects, said no promises had been made. “There is no apology on my part for an agreement that I didn’t make… We have no local projects on (our list),” she said. “I have not been able to understand why the mayor has stood before the cameras” and said the money was taken out without his knowing, she said.

Tags: Jobs, transportation

This just in from Governor Chris Gregoire’s office: Tommorrow, she’ll announce a comprehensive “Green Jobs and Climate Action” package of bills.

TVW will be there — and show the press conference at 6 p.m. tomorrow.

The announcement will be at South Puget Sound Community College, in the LEED certified Natural Sciences building.

Tags: Governor, Jobs

I’m getting ready to head home, but couldn’t help but alert you to a few things going on tomorrow:

First, the last hearings tomorrow are the 1:30 p.m. round. That means you’ll be home in time for dinner.

Second, here are some things I’ve already got my eye on:

Commerce & Labor’s 8 a.m. on the Governor’s jobs package.

Ecology and Park’s 8 a.m. on climate change.

Environment, Water & Energy’s 1:30 p.m. on the Puget Sound Partnership

Finance’s 1:30 p.m. update on the national economy

And I’ll be watching Inside Olympia, with budget-writers Rep. Kelli Linville and Sen. Joe Zarelli.

Tags: economic stimulus, Governor, Jobs, Legislature

I just got back from a press conference with Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and a half dozen other Democrats in the Senate. They were announcing a package of bills aimed at creating jobs across the state in high-demand areas, like healthcare and “green” jobs.

How do they plan to do it, particularly in a tough budget year? Many of the measures focus on using programs that already exist in a different way. For example: There is currently a program that helps low-income households pay their utility bills. One of the proposals would free up that money for home energy audits, which would help identify and correct energy inefficient areas throughout the home. The idea is that jobs and a long-term drop in utility payments are achieved simultaneously.

Another example, courtesy of Sen. Karen Keiser: There are currently 12,000 vacancies in healthcare-related jobs across the state. By partnering with community colleges, she said, and using some of the $4 billion of state unemployment insurance money for workforce training (Note: $4 billion, not $400 million, which was the figure cited at the press conference), more workers could be trained for those jobs — either current healthcare workers moving up the chain (LPN to RN, for example) or new workers moving into the field.

They estimated the efforts could produce 24,000 jobs, though there wasn’t an estimate on what time frame it would take to get there.

Tags: Democrats, Jobs, Senate