public policy « Washington Policy Watch

February 3, 2012 • 2:24 pm 0

Public sector cuts are holding back economic recovery in Washington

The latest economic forecast for Washington state, issued by Washington’s soon-to-be-former Chief Economist Arun Raha, shows we may be beginning to dig out from the recession – but public sector cuts are holding back the recovery:

The bright spots:

The aerospace industry added 11,500 jobs since May 2010, double the 6,000 lost during the recession.
Jobs are beginning to return to the software industry, which added 1,800 jobs since December 2009 – but still shy of making up for the 2,500 software jobs lost during the recession.

The downside:

The construction industry remains weak, and employment is flat.
State and local government shed 1,300 jobs in November and December, adding to the 17,000 state and local government employee jobs lost between Feb 2010 and Sept 2011.

So overall, signs in the private sector seem to be trending positive – but it’s also clear public sector cuts are holding back the state’s recovery.

public sector vs private sector job change

This point is not lost on Ezra Klein, who points out in the Washington Post that government layoffs are acting as a drag on our national economic recovery:

As Isaac Shapiro and Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute have found, the rate of private-sector job growth during this recovery has actually been comparable to that after the 1990 and 2001 recessions. What makes the current recovery different is that, unlike after past recessions, the unemployment rate is getting battered by government layoffs this time around.

To rebound quickly and rebuild our state economy, Washington legislators need to stop the bleeding by making robust investments in our state infrastructure. Ending corporate tax breaks and maintaining investments of $2 billion in education, health care, and services would help do just that, and result in 9,000 to 17,000 additional private and public sector jobs.

Learn more: A Jobs and Economic Recovery Plan for Washington »

Filed under: state economy, Arun Raha, economic growth, Employment, Ezra Klein, Private sector, public policy, Public sector, tax exemption, Washington, Washington Post, washington state

February 1, 2012 • 9:10 am 1

Tax the rich: They need services too

From the Everett Herald | By John Burbank:

We’ve had a lot of talk about the privilege of the top 1 percent, and how they are grabbing more and more of our national income. Once, productivity increases were proportionally shared between corporations and workers. Now they’re mostly grabbed by companies and their top executives, while workers are left with decreased retirement savings, increased health-care costs and depressed wages.

This shift in prosperity and prospects didn’t just happen. It’s the result of conscious policy-making, including tax decreases for the wealthy, government policy that turns a blind eye to corporate union-busting, and “free trade” agreements that export jobs out of our country.

The result may appear to be manna from heaven for the wealthy, but that too is an illusion, because the wealthy need a civil society to prosper, too. They need good roads and a rail system to deliver materials to factories, and to distribute the products of these factories. They need fully functioning ports to export raw materials to factories they’ve established in China and import consumer goods to sell to Americans.

The wealthy need skilled workers for high tech and remaining industrial production — so they need good schools, community colleges and universities that are accessible to middle class students. And because workers don’t work so well when they — or their kids — are ill or injured or sick, the wealthy benefit from health coverage for the many.

Gated communities, private planes and private elite schools don’t fit the bill. The wealthy might think they can live in isolation and privilege, but the reality is, they can’t escape from the downsizing of the middle class. It hurts them too. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: tax and budget, investment, middle class, paramount duty, public good, public policy, washington state

January 23, 2012 • 9:01 am 0

Washington state voters were ahead of the curve on minimum wage – why can’t these legislators catch up?

When Washington voters overwhelmingly passed an initiative to index the state’s minimum wage to inflation back in 1998, naysayers made “doom and gloom” predictions that turned out to be more Chicken Little than anything else.

Nine other states (AZ, CO, FL, MO, MT, NV, OH, OR, VT) followed suit, and more recently, some (at first blush) surprising advocates for stronger minimum wage laws have emerged. Among them: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Independent), who advocate indexing the federal minimum wage to inflation and increasing the minimum wage, respectively. (President Obama previously endorsed raising the federal minimum wage to $9.50, then indexing it based on the Consumer Price Index.)

Given that context, it’s more than a little surprising to see a group of Washington legislators file three different bills this year, each aimed at undercutting Washington state’s best-in-the-nation minimum wage in some fashion: Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: minimum wage, ALEC, michael bloomberg, Minimum wage, mitt romney, obama, public policy, washington state

December 27, 2011 • 6:46 pm 0

Helping our low-income workers keep up

Marilyn Watkins, EOI Policy Director

From the Everett Herald:

By Christine L. Owens and Marilyn Watkins

In 1998, an overwhelming two-thirds of Washington voters supported a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage and adjust it upward each year to keep pace with the rising cost of living. As a result, there’s a bright spot on the horizon for Washington’s lowest-paid workers: On Jan. 1, Washington’s minimum wage will increase by 37 cents to $9.04, the best in the nation.

The initiative sets the floor for all workers, and enables low-wage workers to maintain their purchasing power in good times and bad. It is particularly important in this recession, as people have lost jobs and bargaining power for their wages. Without the minimum wage floor, workers’ wages could be pushed even lower, and that would only deepen this recession into a true depression.

That increase not only helps hard-working Washingtonians provide for their families, but also boosts the overall economy. When Franklin Roosevelt first established the federal minimum wage during the Great Depression in 1938, he emphasized that a strong wage floor is “an essential part of economic recovery.” The same is true today.

When low-wage workers have more money in their pockets, they spend it immediately on basic necessities like groceries, clothing and school supplies. And as demand for goods and services grows, businesses expand and hire.

The resulting increase in spending from minimum wage bumps in Washington and seven other states on Jan. 1 will lead to an additional $366 million in economic output and create the equivalent of more than 3,000 jobs, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute. That’s a shot in the arm our economy desperately needs. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: minimum wage, economic policy institute, low-wage positions, low-wage workers, Minimum wage, public policy

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Public sector cuts are holding back economic recovery in Washington

Tax the rich: They need services too

Washington state voters were ahead of the curve on minimum wage – why can’t these legislators catch up?

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