Issues - Good Job Opportunities and Sustainable Economic Growth
Seattle has a fantastic history as a place where new ideas flourish and innovative companies are launched. Boeing, Microsoft, Nordstrom, Amazon, Starbucks, and Costco are just a few of the best-known examples of pioneering companies that got their start here and have played a huge role in shaping the world we live in today.
Why Seattle? I think it’s always been a place that has valued independence and hard work. And because it’s such a diverse and beautiful city, it has always attracted smart, talented, hard-working, and well-educated people.
This is still true today and now we have an opportunity to lead the way in industries that will shape the world tomorrow, including green technology, biotechnology, and global health and development.
But recent data for the Puget Sound Regional Council shows that Seattle actually lost jobs between 2000 and 2006. The global economic recession has meant more job losses across the region.
While he pace of economic recovery will depend mostly on policies enacted at the national level, there are important investments that we can make so that Seattle—and the businesses that call Seattle home—can be more competitive nationally and internationally. Ultimately, sustainable economic growth that provides great family-wage jobs depends on the success of the private sector. We need to provide a business environment that enables existing companies, both big and small, to thrive and grow and that fosters entrepreneurship so that the Boeings and Microsofts of tomorrow continue to be created here as well.
Here are some of the approaches I favor to creating family-wage jobs in Seattle now and for the future:
- Address the issues that make it expensive for companies to do business in Seattle, such as the high cost of housing and our outmoded transportation system. Expensive housing creates cost pressure on businesses, which must pay higher wages so that people can afford to live here. Our terrible traffic takes its toll in lost productivity and a higher cost to move goods.
- Identify a set of strategies that will position Seattle as a leader in the new green economy. We need to understand the investments that the city should make to ensure that Seattle is the center for the development of innovations in green technology.
- Invest in smart infrastructure projects that will prepare Seattle for the future and meet our long-term goal of providing all of our citizens with great job opportunities that provide family-wage jobs. These might include technology and communications infrastructure as well as transportation infrastructure. It is critical that we choose these projects carefully, provide the right oversight so that high standards for quality and timeliness are met, and finance them in ways that don’t jeopardize our ability to meet future needs by creating excessive debt.
- Invest in education. The real reason Seattle has enjoyed economic success and been a leader in innovation is because we have a workforce and a population that is unusually well-educated. We need to make smart investments to ensure that local companies continue have access to a workforce that has the skills, knowledge, and training that is essential for business success.
While these are all long-term goals, taking steps to tackle them now will also create local jobs immediately. For example, efforts to increase our housing supply will put thousands of people to work in good construction jobs. Programs to offer energy retrofits for our buildings will put people to work, reduce the cost of living by lowering energy costs, and cut back our greenhouse gas emissions.
We already have a strong and diverse economy in Seattle, combined with a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. But we need to be smart about making the right investments to position ourselves to be a leader in the important industries that will create great opportunities in the future. Now is the time to take action.
