Families struggle despite job growth

Recent news reports announcing continued job growth and lower unemployment rates for Washington ring hollow for the one in four working families in our state struggling to keep their heads above water.

Washington's unemployment rate for 2005 averages 5.5 percent, the lowest since 2000. And in early November, the state Department of Employment Security announced the state added jobs at twice the national rate during the past year. While these are positive economic trends, we must ask ourselves if they will benefit all our residents.

A report by the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations titled "Searching for Work that Pays: 2005 Northwest Job Gap Study" reveals a shortage of openings for jobs that pay family-sustaining wages. In Washington, 32 percent of all job openings pay less than a living wage for a single adult and 77 percent pay less than a living wage for a single adult with two children.

Living-wage jobs are critical because they allow families to meet basic needs and pay for unexpected life emergencies without public assistance. A living wage is not an extravagant wage. For a single adult it is $10.77 per hour ($22,400 annually), and for an adult with two children it is $22.35 per hour ($46,500 annually). Every year the costs of health care, transportation, housing, child care, utilities and other necessities are rising, and as the job gap study reveals, job seekers face the discouraging fact that available jobs don't pay enough to meet their basic needs. This increasing disparity threatens to chip away at the foundation for safe, secure and healthy communities.

For this reason, we need to read beyond the headlines. Seattle Jobs Initiative's own analysis shows that one-third of jobs created in King and Snohomish counties since the recession ended were in industries paying less than $30,000 per year. And many middle-wage jobs ($40,000 to $60,000 annually) have permanently disappeared. During the recession, Washington lost more than 50,000 manufacturing jobs paying a middle-class wage, and despite the economic upswing, those jobs have not returned. Further, the state's own job projections predict that middle-wage jobs will grow the slowest.

We should address this job gap with a two-pronged approach.

First, we need policies that create a spectrum of good-paying jobs accessible to a broad range of the work force. Too often job creation is geared toward industries that require workers with bachelor's and master's degrees, and beyond. Economic development efforts should target industries that can offer middle-wage jobs as well as those that pay the highest wages.

Second, we should adequately fund community colleges to cultivate a skilled work force ready to fill and succeed in good jobs. We are faltering in this crucial task. In 2004, almost half of employers looking to hire had difficulty finding applicants with appropriate skills, and more than two-thirds of those employers saw reduced production or sales as a result.

We challenge Washington state not to be satisfied by the recent statistics on overall job growth but to focus on long-term strategies to create good-paying jobs, while increasing access to training that will allow state residents to fill those jobs. We should be satisfied only when we ensure that residents are working in jobs that are, in fact, serving to support them.

Rhonda Simmons is executive director of the non-profit Seattle Jobs Initiative.

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