Washington’s Unemployment Rate & Economic Outlook, October/November Edition

Here’s a riddle for you. Washington State’s unemployment rate is tracked to the tenth of a percentage point (though whether the data supports that level of precision is arguable). It has “fallen” for seven out of ten months in 2011, yet in January the (preliminary) rate was 9.1 percent and in October it was 9.0. Is this a new instance of Zeno’s Paradox? Continue reading Washington’s Unemployment Rate & Economic Outlook, October/November Edition

Business, News, Politics

Washington State Economy Needs That Boeing Bounce…And More

That’s well and good, says Raha, but “Boeing cannot, by itself, save us from the impact of another slowdown in the U.S. economy.” Recently, Raha has made a point of looking for upsides, saying that barring this or that unforeseen incident, the state can expect modest growth. Yet, since 2008, the winds have refused to blow fair. Now the disruption of the Japan earthquake has been followed by a summer of wrangling over the emperor’s new debt ceiling, and even incremental recovery has stalled out. Continue reading Washington State Economy Needs That Boeing Bounce…And More