In just a few minutes TVW will be on air with legislators with discussions spanning the topics of the budget, jobs, and higher education.

So far, we’ve spoken with Senators Ed Murray and Mark Schoesler about the budget and Senator Derek Kilmer about job creation.

In our discussion about higher education with Representative Larry Haler, he said “we have reached the breaking point,” regarding cuts to higher education. He said he is in talks with higher education officials and has called for a “zero percent increase” in tuition, or as close to that as is feasible, he added.

All of the interviews today will be on air at 7 p.m. as well.

Tags: Derek Kilmer, Ed Murray, Higher Education, job creation, Jobs, Larry Haler

Gov. Chris Gregoire announced a plan today that would streamline the way that small businesses pay local taxes and apply for a business license.

Under her proposal, Washington state would become the sole collector of all local and state B&O taxes, or business and occupation taxes. It would also create a single state website where businesses can obtain a business license, eliminating the 50 or so websites that are now run by individual cities.

Currently, if a business has operations in more than one city it may have to pay the B&O taxes to multiple cities  – a system that is “at its best complicated, and at its worst a nightmare,” Gregoire said. Her proposal would bring the collection of all B&O taxes under the state’s jurisdiction, much like the sales tax.

Gregoire said she is also issuing an executive order to determine if the restaurant industry has too many state and local regulations that are hindering business. ”Do we need all these inspectors? Do we give conflicting advice? We’ll find out the answers so that businesses can get on with their bottom line, ” Gregoire said.

Gregoire is also directing $1.1 million in federal funds to specific job training programs, including:

• Training 460 veterans for a careers in manufacturing
• Providing paid internships and professional training to at-risk, low-income youth
• Offering on-the-job training for 300 women and minorities working in the construction and transportation sector

Tags: B & O taxes, business licenses, employment, Gov. Gregoire, Jobs, small business

On the heels of this morning’s not-awful revenue forecast, the state also heard the latest jobs report. The good news: The state added 4,600 jobs in October and the unemployment rate is now the lowest it’s been since March 2009.

The bad news: The rate is 9 percent. And 314,698 people are still unemployed and looking for work in the state. Of those, about 176,000 were receiving unemployment benefits and nearly 65,000 unemployed workers have gone without a job for so long that they’ve simply run out of benefits.

According to the Employment Security Department, the industries with the biggest job gains were government, wholesale trade, education and health services, and manufacturing, which includes aerospace. But jobs were lost in professional and business services, transportation, warehousing and utilities, retail trade.

To view the full report, go here.

Tags: Jobs, unemployment

If you’re just looking at the state’s unemployment rate, nothing has changed: We’re still at 9.3 percent, which means nearly 310,000 people are unemployed and looking for work.

But the state has added jobs for every month of the last year. That means there are now 46,600 more jobs in the state than this time last year.

“At some point, there will be a tipping point where the constant job growth starts eroding the unemployment rate,” said Dave Wallace, acting chief economist for Employment Security.

You can read the full report here.

Tags: economy, Jobs, unemployment rate

The Employment Security Department announced this morning that, despite adding 5,700 jobs to the economy, the state’s unemployment rate has held steady at 9.3 percent.

This marks the eleventh month of job gains — but those gains haven’t been substantial enough to touch the unemployment rate.

Industries responsible for adding those 5,700 jobs include leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, retail trade, transportation, warehousing and utilities, professional and business services, financial activities, construction, and government. Meanwhile “other services” and information lost jobs.

Need help finding a job? Go to WorkSource. Want to view the full report? Go here.

Tags: economy, Jobs, recession, unemployment rate

For the first time in three years, the Employment Security Department is reporting there are 21 percent more jobs listed than six months ago.

The Washington Job Vacancy Survey is done twice a year — in the fall and spring. The spring results were just released, and show38,732 vacancies — up from 32,037 in the fall. The record high was 90,000 vacancies in 2006, ESD reports.

“This is positive news for the thousands of people in our state who are hungry to get back to work,” Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee said in a press release. She said it will take some time to get all of the hundreds of thousands of unemployed people in the state back to work, but she sees this as a positive sign.

About 44 percent of the jobs listed were in King County. Many of the jobs statewide were in healthcare. Read the entire survey here.

Tags: Jobs, unemployment

The House repassed its bill to issue bonds to weatherize schools.

Rep. Skip Priest said he’s never seen a bill he likes less. He said the bill will not create immediate jobs — it will send the bond package to voters and require a long wait. He also said he doesn’t approve of borrowing money in the form of bonds to create jobs.“It is our responsibility to pay now to help our kids rather than put the bill on them,” he said.

Rep. Scott White said passing this bill requires courage. “We are going to be levereging our dollars … 4 to one,” he said. “It will be providing 30,000 jobs in every corner of our state to a construction sector that is battling unemployment,” he said. He said this bill has courage and vision.

Rep. Richard DeBolt: “This is not the New Deal,” he said. People “are going to say, we’re still paying on that even though we had to tear down the school?”

Rep. Roger Goodman: “Our core priorities are safety, education and jobs and with this bill, we score a hat trick.”

Rep. Glenn Anderson: “The facts do not substantiate the claims made about this bill,” he said. He said the capital budget used to be the place for school construction, but they’ve de-emphasized that. Instead, he said the Legislature has emphasized low-income housing. “We no longer have capacity in the capital budget to do what it’s intended to do” so they have to create a separate bond bill. He asked lawmakers to vote no.

Tags: bonds, Jobs

The House just started debate on the bill to create jobs by making schools more energy efficient. The improvements would be paid for with bonds — and the bonds would be paid for by energy savings.

The problem, as Republicans have said it: The bill would put Washington further into debt.

“We cannot afford the debt. Get off the dope,” Rep. Glenn Anderson said. He called the bill “delusional.”

Rep. Dawn Morrell said the state needs jobs — and this bill would make schools more energy efficient. She said thiis bill would do both.

“As a mother of a child with asthma, I know what it’s like to send your child to school ina building that’s 50  years old with mold,” Rep. Tina Orwall said. She said the bill will help teachers and kids have a healthier place to work.

Rep. Charles Ross: “I had a chance to go home over the weekend,” he said, and talk to people. “The public is outraged at what’s going on … people are sick and tired of big government and I think it’s telling that we’re opening the special session” by talking about a bill that’s about debt and “disguised” as a jobs bill. (more…)

Tags: Jobs, Schools

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