Files containing subject labor productivity

At the end of a recession, when the economy is in flux, numbers can get squirrely...Keeping in mind the shakiness of preliminary job estimates, there was potentially goods news in ESD's March labor report. [READ MORE]

Professor Neil Bruce of the University of Washington recently lectured on the economy's impact on the presidential election. Making use of the Fair Model, he predicted that President Bush would win in November with a 54 percent vote. [READ MORE]

Suppose we had a recession and nobody noticed. Something like this may be in the offing. We tend to view recessions with dread, like a serious illness: "recession may kill 19-year expansion." In fact, most recessions are just minor interruptions in the upward march of the economy. [READ MORE]

Like it or not, the Puget Sound region has little control over its economic destiny, at least in the short run. World air travel dictates how many commercial jets Boeing will sell. Volatile housing markets in California and Japan generate production swings at Weyerhaeuser lumber mills. The incomes of many Seattle fishermen are made or lost in Alaskan waters. [READ MORE]