Dear Neighbor,
As Washington State reopens its doors fully again, I thought it appropriate to send a short update on the state of our economy, the job market, and the impending payroll tax for long-term care known as the Washington Cares Fund.
How did Washington’s economy weather the pandemic?
According to the Washington State Employment Security Department, we lost 420,400 jobs from February 2020 through May 2020. During the height of the shutdowns, we saw the unemployment rate hit a high of 16.3%. Since then, we’ve added 238,100 jobs and our unemployment rate is tracking lower than the U.S. average.