A copy of the 2006 Competitiveness handbook showed up last week just when I was thinking about what to write.
The handbook, also called the Competitiveness Redbook, is a compilation of statistics by the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy. It’s designed to show how we stack up with other states in categories that the groups think are important for the business community or the economy as a whole.
Here are some stats I found interesting, in no particular order:
* Snohomish County was listed with a population in 2005 of 655,800 people, behind King County’s 1.8 million and Pierce County’s 755,900. Snohomish County was growing at a rate of 1.7 percent – more than either King or Pierce county.
Together, the three counties had 51 percent of the total population for the entire state, and are experiencing 48 percent of the growth.
* Washington was 10th in the nation when it came to net domestic migration, or the difference between the number of people showing up and the number leaving. It added 15,875 people. In job growth, Washington was 12th, adding 52,300 jobs between April 2004 and April 2005.
* In personal income, Washington ranked 11th, averaging $35,299 per capita in 2004, up 5.9 percent from the previous year. That’s a jump from 13th in the nation in 2003, a good sign of improving prosperity.
* In exports per resident, the state was top dog in 2004, shipping out goods valued at $33.8 million. In total exports, Washington was fifth in the nation.
* In gas taxes, the state’s 31 cents in June was seventh, tied with Rhode Island. At the top was Hawaii, which charges 41 cents a gallon.
* Looking at how our business taxes stack up as a percentage of all taxes, Washington was 10th in the nation in 2004, with a percentage of 50.1. Businesses paid $12 billion in taxes in the state that year.
* Effective property tax rates placed Washington 39th in the nation.
* But it was much higher, 14th, in the category of cost of doing business, a calculation involving worker pay, taxes, power and rent last year.
* Speaking of worker pay, the state was 38th in government employment, with a payroll average of $47,942 per employee, which ranked seventh. For local government employees, the pay was $52,855, fourth in the nation. For high-tech employees, we were first in pay at $94,621, and 15th in employment at 150,801. Factory workers averaged $16.69 an hour, 20th in the nation. Our minimum wage, $7.35 in 2005, was tops in the nation.
* Union members as a share of employment were 19.3 percent, a slight drop from the previous year, but still good enough to place us sixth in the nation.
* Unemployment taxes, averaging $854 per worker, placed us No. 1 in the nation. Unemployment insurance payments were 11th, and workers’ compensation, $697 per worker, was ranked fourth.
Well, that’s enough statistics for today.
If you’d like your own copy of the report, call 360-943-1600 or go to www.awb.org.
Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com.
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