Why isn the City of Seattle cutting more staff?
You can be sure there is a recession when your neighbors tell you that their pay was cut by 10 percent and that they were forced to take off one day a week without pay. The carpenter across the street hasn’t had more than a week’s work at his trade in the last two months. Two other neighbors were laid off. Tough times have finally reached the Emerald City. Last February the U.S. Labor Department listed Iowa at a (very low) 3.2 percent unemployment rate and Seattle Metro area with an unemployment rate at 8.7 percent. In May, another source listed Seattle’s unemployment at 11.5 percent. There are so many variables that no number is exact. It’s abundantly clear that private corporations are laying off people. Even seemingly healthy businesses are tightening their belts, as have local counties. King County, Starbucks, Boeing, and Microsoft (just today) all have either cut people or plan to or offered unpaid furloughs. The exception is the City of Seattle, whose belt tightening doesn’t even
