Reports & Articles
Washington State must provide significant relief to workers, families, and small businesses in addition to any federal aid to enable recovery from the multiple impacts of the COVID pandemic on physical, mental, and economic health. A wealth tax on Washington’s highest income residents will allow critical investments in underfunded services and help us recover much […]
Access to health insurance is critical for keeping new parents and children healthy, especially during the first year of a baby’s life. But Washington’s Apple Health for Pregnant Women program cuts off health coverage at around 60 days postpartum, leaving over 10,000 low-income women and birthing parents* without health insurance during a critical and precarious time. Extending Postpartum […]
The state’s economic crisis is deepening. Hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians continue to suffer and are nearing exhaustion. We need immediate aid and bold action to start healing and begin turning the economy around. With special federal unemployment benefits expired and the first round of stimulus checks largely spent, there simply isn’t enough consumer demand […]
For a PDF, click here. Since benefits began in January 2020, 170,000 Washington workers have applied for Paid Family & Medical Leave program (PFML) benefits while they recover from their own serious health condition, welcome a new child, care for a critically ill loved one, or cope with a family member’s military deployment. PFML supports […]
Originally published in the South Seattle Emerald One bright spot in this mostly dismal 2020 has been the launch of Washington’s Paid Family Medical Leave program (PFML). About 170,000 workers have applied for benefits this year. They include many people who had the joy of welcoming a new child into their family, others coping with […]
Washington State has experienced incredible economic growth thanks to our booming tech industries. High salary tech jobs have pushed up overall median incomes and caused housing and other basic cost to skyrocket all across the state. However, even before the pandemic and recession, most workers in other sectors hadn’t seen their own wages rise much, […]
New and continuing college students did not anticipate the drastic changes to their college careers caused by COVID-19. While continuing to adjust to a largely virtual learning environment and dealing with the mental health impacts of social isolation, they are also facing a bleak job market. Our students, community colleges, and universities need help. When […]
Introduction The COVID-19 global pandemic has altered most aspects of life and will continue to impact our economy – and tax revenues – long after the virus itself is contained. Washington state revenue forecasters are projecting the state will receive nearly $4 billion less over the next three years than budget writers were counting on. […]
Washington’s overall unemployment rate declined from 8.5 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September — but the pace of recovery is slowing significantly as we head into Fall. Even with upcoming seasonal hiring, job growth is an order of magnitude too small for a significant recovery to take place. As we enter the ninth […]
Washington State’s legislators face enormous challenges in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, systemic racism and economic recession. They also have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild our economy so that it better promotes shared prosperity, healthy communities, and opportunity for all Washingtonians. This toolkit will help us rebuild our state so that we come out of […]
The just-released 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) from the U.S. Federal Reserve highlights massive and long-standing disparities in wealth in the United States — both between racial and ethnic groups, as well as within them. The survey finds the typical White family in America has eight times the wealth (defined as gross assets minus […]
While Washington’s overall unemployment rate dropped from 10.2 percent in July to 8.5 percent in August, the state still has 200,000 fewer jobs than in February. Maintaining strong public health measures and avoiding state budget cuts will be crucial for rebuilding the job market — but the state’s economic problems go much deeper. Leading up […]
For a PDF, click here. Background Washington is the fifth U.S. state to implement a comprehensive Paid Family & Medical Leave program, and the first to build the full program from the ground up. After a multi-year campaign and stakeholder negotiations, Washington’s legislature passed the program in 2017. Payroll contributions by employees and employers began […]
Social Security improves economic security for more than 1.3 million Washington residents and their families, and contributes significantly to economic stability and growth across the state. While it is currently on sound fiscal footing, federal lawmakers should act now to remove Social Security’s cap on taxable earnings, raise benefits, and make other improvements to ensure […]
Access to affordable, high-quality health care is a cornerstone of building thriving communities. Without it, we can’t erase health, economic, racial, and gender inequities in Washington, or flatten the COVID-19 curve. Health Coverage in Washington We have a patchwork system of health insurance based on employment, age, and income that results in many gaps in […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing wage inequality, as those workers who are younger, earning low to moderate wages, or without a four-year college degree have taken the brunt of unprecedented job losses. The pandemic has significantly impacted nearly all local economies, but unemployment has hit hardest in the Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula […]
Washington State has failed for years to make the investments necessary to promote educational opportunity and healthy communities because of our insufficient and unjust tax system. While some problems are masked during boom growth periods, they become starkly clear during recessions. Washington stands to learn from its mistakes in the Great Recession, as austerity and […]
This report was created in partnership with Americans for Tax Fairness and Health Care for America Now. For a PDF, click here. Washington has 12 billionaires who collectively saw their wealth increase by $89.9 billion or 28.0% during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic even as the state’s economy was reeling from a […]
Originally published in the South Seattle Emerald As tax revenues fall with people out of work and whole industries shuttered, Washington’s state and local governments are laying off staff, reducing pay, and slashing services that are helping people weather the COVID storm. Cutting important services now will cause immediate suffering, prolong the recession, and deepen […]
Hold on to your hats. Washington’s revenue forecast is not pretty. We’re facing a $9 billion budget gap over the next three years. The forecast, released by the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council on June 17, portrays a dismal, if not unexpected picture of our state’s financial well-being. The forecast comes at a […]
For a PDF, click here. COVID-19 has laid bare two inter-related public policy dilemmas in Washington State: Our tax system fails to generate the revenue needed to fund public services, due to our overdependence on sales taxes, business and occupation taxes (B&O), and property taxes. It is exacerbated by our failure to adequately tax growing […]
If legislators convene for a special session this summer, they’ll face an unprecedented economic and health crisis – and a stark choice: either raise new revenue from those who continue to prosper, or enact steep budget cuts that will worsen suffering and prolong the recession. Their decisions will signal who, and what, they care about […]
For a PDF, click here. Washington’s communities are hurting from the combined effects of the coronavirus pandemic, social isolation, and loss of income. To prevent extreme hardship, promote health, and provide opportunity to Washington’s diverse communities, the state must increase investments in public health, education, housing, and income support for the most vulnerable. Washington State […]
The economic expansion that followed the Great Recession was the longest in post-war history. But many people, especially those with low-to-moderate incomes, were already on an economic knife edge before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The jobs numbers certainly looked rosy: from 2008 to 2019, Washington added nearly 479,000 nonfarm jobs. Over the same time frame, […]
For a PDF, click here. From 2009 through 2012, Washington’s Legislature made policy-level spending cuts totaling $13.2 billion. They avoided even deeper cuts by modestly increasing revenues and transferring from other funds. Washington also received about $4 billion in federal stimulus funds over three biennia (2007-2013).[1] The austerity approach: caused significant, long-lasting harm to individuals […]
For a PDF, click here. In the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, state and local policy makers need new and better fiscal tools to protect Washington residents and prevent a long and deep recession. Public health needs are escalating, more people are turning to public services to cover basic necessities, and businesses will need help to reopen […]
While some people are practicing social distancing by lounging in their multi-million vacation homes, others continue to work on the front lines risking their health and safety. Those at the front-lines are primarily people of Color. These are volatile, minimum-wage positions, and people with no option but to stay at work. While those with higher incomes, […]
Last week, it seemed that billionaires might step up and come to the rescue. Jack Dorsey, who founded Twitter and Square, donated $1 billion, amounting to 28 percent of his wealth, to relief programs related to the novel coronavirus. But what about the richest man in the world, clocking in at $123 billion and growing? […]
We’ve received two calls in the last week from immigrants with questions about how their legal status will affect them during this COVID-19 crisis. The first was a DACA student about to graduate from Washington State University. She was laid off from her part time job, and her internship working with little kids was cancelled. […]
Wages Since 1979, wages for the bottom 60 percent of Washington workers have increased $1/hour — or less! — after adjusting for inflation; meanwhile, the top 10 percent have seen hourly wages jump nearly $18/hour.[1] It’s not for lack of economic growth: between 1979 and 2016 (date of latest available data), Washington’s economic productivity increased […]
For a PDF, click here. “Our program is closed as of tomorrow. We didn’t have any reserves left. I am heartbroken. We are in the fight for our lives. But … we are needed now more than ever. However, the state can no longer leverage our passion; now they have to pony up the money […]
For a PDF, click here. Introduction Why is the U.S. health care system so expensive – and what can be done about it? How can we improve access to affordable health care, achieve better health outcomes for all, and reduce health disparities in our communities? The United States spends more on health care than any […]