Commentary
Employment Up in Some State Counties, But Labor Conditions Still Weak
Although state unemployment rose tc 9.3 percent in October from 9.1% in September, many counties including Whitman, Wennatchee, Walla Walla, Snohomish and Spokane actually experienced increases in employment during the period, accourding to the state’s Department of Employment Security. Spokane employers added 3,000 workers, boosting employment by 3.2 percent. Most of the new jobs, however…
Olympia Ranks 7th On Milken Top 200 Cities List. Seattle Does Okay at 17th
Olympia scored 7th in the Milken Institute’s 200 Best Performing Cities list of 2009, up from 9th the year before, while Seattle remained unchanged at 17th place. Spokane dropped to 41st from 35th place in 2008, while Tacoma fell to 21st from 8th in 2008. Olympia placed high on the list because of strong job…
A Boost for Clearwire, But Not in Creativity
Clearwire Corp., the wirless internet service provider, got a big cash infusion yesterday: $1.5 billion, largely from majority owner Sprint, but also a fair amount from Comcast Cable and Eagle River Holdings, the holding company for the assets of Clearwire’s billionaire founder Craig McCaw. It’s a lot of money, and yet Clearwire is still a…
Microsoft Lays Off Another 800
A quick follow-up from a sub-paragraph deep down in my earlier post, Microsoft today is confirming another 800 layoffs, 200 in the Seattle area, pushing the total of jobs cut since the January announcement of 5,000 jobs cut to … 5,800. But that’s the last of it, a Microsoft spokesman tells seattlepi.com. Maybe until next…
Burlington Northern: Another Prosaic but Lucrative Investment
Warren Buffett is famous for avoiding investments in technology, which is among the many reasons why he’s still rich and a lot of the one-time tech stars are not. His investing tastes have tended to much more prosaic investments like insurance (Geico, and a stake in the Bellevue-based Safeco spinoff Symetra) and jewelry stores (including…
Boeing’s Challenges Are Just Beginning
By putting its second 787 assembly line in South Carolina, Boeing will save itself some money on labor costs (and perhaps win a little more political support for its defense contracts from that part of the country.) It has also sent its labor union a clear signal: There is no future in militant unionism. Long…
Gunning for Green Energy
There’s a growing consensus that clean energy will emerge as a massive business opportunity worldwide. Washington state already has hundreds of companies in the industry and is a leading contender. (check out the Washington State Energy Marketplace Directory). But lots of other regions and countries in the world are moving a lot more quickly to…
September Employment Numbers Stable
Unemployment was up again in September. But as with the August numbers, the headlines can be deceiving. Although unemployment jumped to 9.3 percent in September from 9 percent in August, the majority of that increase was a result of the growing size of the labor force, which grew by 8,000. Employment did shrink, but only…
Local Magazines have a Strong Future
About Seattle Business Magazine When I tell people what I do, sometimes I see a sad look in their eyes as if I had just told them I had cancer. It doesn’t surprise me. After all, there’s a lot of death in our industry. Every day some dear old friend succumbs. The Seattle PI stopped…
Massive UW Research Project to Monitor the Next Frontier: The Ocean
Although three quarters of our planet is covered by ocean, we know less about it than we know about the surface of Mars. A better understanding of oceans, says John Delaney, UW professor of oceanography, will “revolutionize our perception of the planet” and result greater insight into everything from the health of a $4 billion…
Microsoft’s Dance
You’ll find me among those who really really wishes Microsoft well in its new endeavors. It’s making all the right noises about transforming its products; trying to get Office more cloud-friendly, putting out Windows 7 to atone for Vista, even engaging in that ultimate exercise in branding, opening a retail store. And yet… this all…
Forgotten Stars
After timber, fishing, the Klondike Gold Rush and airplanes, the Next Big Thing for Seattle’s economy was supposed to be computer software. What we got out of that was Microsoft and a nice little community of tech companies. Next came biotechnology, and we’re still waiting to see what we get out of that. That was…
Memorandum
To: All Staff From: Bill M. Wallhead, CEO Subject: Update for 2009-2010 It’s been a tough year for us at Cellular Accessories Limited, but I’m taking this opportunity to announce the good news early. By now, as you may be aware, the economy is well on the way to recovery. Thanks to the diligent cost-control…