Seattle’s economy is booming: construction everywhere, crowded streets and transit, housing costs soaring, bustling neighborhood restaurants, and a 2.6% unemployment rate. Much of this growth is driven by high wage-tech jobs and the spillover effect of all those workers eating out, shopping, and paying premium prices. It’s in this context that Seattle instituted its higher…
Washington state has gained jobs at a faster rate than most other states since the Great Recession, but the majority of working families are not benefitting from the economic boom. While high tech companies are attracting thousands of newcomers with promises of high compensation, pay for the typical worker is not keeping up with rising…
Over the next couple weeks, young people across the region will be graduating with new degrees and high hopes for the future. They are competing for jobs in an economy where the contrast between the the haves and have nots is stark. The occupations projected to have the most job openings in King County and…
The stalemate in Olympia over Washington state’s budget represents an ideological divide that won’t be overcome by negotiators sitting long enough in a room together. And unfortunately, neither side has proposed a budget and revenue package that would actually fully fund the educational opportunity and services families need in today’s economy. Republicans who control the…
Adopting a budget will be the main task of Washington’s legislature in 2015. The state’s elected leaders face a big challenge. Income inequality is constricting family budgets and the whole economy, here in Washington and nationwide. Washington also has an outdated tax system that no longer fits our economy. As a result, public revenues from…
Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella created a national uproar when he advised women to rely on “good karma†for a raise. He almost immediately retracted. But if Nadella had instead advised women to ask for raises and urged girls to pursue computer science degrees, that still would have been the wrong answer to the gender wage…
The kids are back in school – and last week the Washington Supreme Court gave the State Legislature an “F†for failing to adequately fund public schools across the state. Meanwhile, a new analysis by Standard & Poor’s concludes that growing income inequality is causing sales tax revenues to fall. According to the highly respected global credit rating firm,…
As divided as Americans seem to be about the role of government, we’re pretty united around the notion that quality public education should be accessible to all. Businesses and our economy can’t operate without an educated workforce – and educated customers. Democracy itself depends on citizens who can reason and understand the issues they vote…
It’s great to be here today to celebrate the real progress we have made towards women’s equality. But I suspect many of us are also here today because we recognize how far we still have to go. When I was girl growing up in 1960s, the expectation for at least white middle class women was…
President Obama and Nancy Pelosi have shifted the economic debate in our nation’s capital back onto the right track with a renewed focus on working women and the middle class. The 30-year experiment with supply side economics – including deregulation, cutting taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, and slashing public investments –  has been great…