Basic Needs

Basic Needs Indicators

We’re all struggling with the nation’s economic downturn, but it’s especially hard on vulnerable people in King County. To meet people’s pressing basic needs, United Way of King County will invest in programs that promote housing stability, alleviate hunger and help people secure the tax credits and public benefits they need.

The following indicators represent the impact of economic conditions on people in our community. Data are broken down by smaller geographic areas where possible. Additional data is provided in many of the downloadable files. This will provide an immediate barometer of how people are faring in King County during these difficult times.

If you need help with financial, housing, food, health and employment services, visit our Where to Turn Basic Needs online resource guide. For information on how to get other kinds of assistance, call 2-1-1 or follow this link: http://www.resourcehouse.info/Win211/

Status on key indicators:

The unemployment rate in King County was 8.1% in July, 2010 which is down 0.2% from June's adjusted unemployment rate of 8.3%.
The unemployment rate for Washington State has remained between near 9% for most of 2009 until January 2010, when it rose to 10.2%. The Washington State Unemployment rate decreased 0.2% from 8.8% to 8.6% from June to July of this year.
The July Washington State unemployment rate is the lowest its been since April 2009
Washington lost 2,300 net jobs in July. This includes a loss of 5,400 government jobs and a gain of 3,100 private sector jobs.
Visits to food banks rose significantly during 2008 and have remained at high levels. .
Requests for rent assistance continue to increase in the first half of 2010.
Home foreclosures continue to be recorded at high rates in King County compared with years before the recession. South County is disproportionately affected by foreclosures. The rate of increase in foreclosures in the Seattle area was among the highest in the US in late 2009.

Requests for Assistance with Basic Needs

211 Information line provides information on social services.

The number of requests to 211 for rent assistance in September 2008 was double the number in September 2007 and reached an all-time high in the second quarter of 2010.
Requests for utility assistance are down 18% from an all-time high in the first quarter of 2010.
The largest number of calls come from South King County, followed by Seattle.

Source: Crisis Clinic | Download Data

The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services provides financial, medical and food assistance.

Applications for financial assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) fell from an average 2,376 per month in the last quarter of 2009 to 2,327 during the second quarter of 2010 .
Caseloads rose sharply and continue to rise because people are staying in the program longer.

Source: Washington State Department of Social and Health Services | Download Data

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Emergency Food Distribution

The number of visits to food banks increased by 10% in 2008 over the number in 2007.
Some individual food banks saw increases as much as 30% during some months in 2008 compared to the same months in 2007.
In 2009, the number of visits has continued to rise though more slowly.
Based on data from Seattle food banks, the largest increase in food bank beneficiaries was for children 0-2, followed by other children under 18.
Applications for the Basic Food Program (formerly food stamps) have increased steadily in late 2008 and early 2009. In the third quarter of 2009, the number of new applications leveled off, however caseloads continued to grow. An average of 10,098 King County residents apply for food stamps each month and over 93,000 were receiving Basic Food support in June 2010.
The Basic Food caseload grew by more than 78% between December 2007 and December 2009.
Applications for Basic Food in the second quarter of 2010 were the lowest since quarter three of 2009.

Source: Food Lifeline | Download Data

Source: Washington State Department of Social and Health Services | Download Data

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Worker Layoffs

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) act requires companies with 100 or more employees to notify affected workers 60 days prior to closures and layoffs. WARN data does not capture the total number of workers laid off, but does include most large layoffs of full time regular employees and serves as an indicator. Layoffs do not fully capture job losses as jobs can be eliminated without laying off workers. The number of layoffs and total job losses must also be weighed against job gains.

Layoffs in King County increased in 2008 over 2007.
10,908 layoffs were reported for 2009 more than double those reported for 2008.
The number of layoffs declined in the last quarter of 2009 and first quarter of 2010.
Washington gained new jobs in January, 2010 for the first time in over a year, lost jobs in February, but gained jobs again in March. January and March job gains were the first in over a year.
Layoff notices for April and March are up.

Source: Washington State Employment Security Department | Download Data

The large number of January 09 layoffs is due to the Seattle based Washington Mutual Bank purchase by New York based JP Morgan Chase.

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Employment Security Data

How is unemployment measured?

The unemployment rate in Washington State has increased sharply in 2009 over 2008, but declined slightly in April then leveled off.

Shaded areas represent national recessionary periods
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics | Download Data

The unemployment rate in King County was 8.1% in July 2010 which is a 0.2% decrease from June's adjusted unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate for Washington State has remained between near 9% for most of 2009 until January 2010, when it rose to 10.2%. The Washington State Unemployment rate decreased 0.2% to 8.6 from June to July of this year.
The seasonally adjusted rate for King County is not available, but according to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics the 'not seasonally unadjusted' rate for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area increased to 8.6% in June, up from the May 2010 rate of 8.5%.
The percentage of unemployed workers in Washington getting unemployment benefits dropped from 45% in 2001 to 36% in 2008¹

Source: Washington State Employment Security | Download Data

* Unemployment rates are often revised as additional data is collected, therefore the rate for a given month may be different than what was reported in previous updates.

Unemployment Benefit Levels

In Washington state, the maximum weekly benefit amount is $630. The minimum is $133 to 225, depending on eligibility for federal recession-related programs which are based on the date their claim took effect. No one who is eligible for benefits will receive less than this, regardless of his or her earnings. Within those limits, the average benefit is around 50% of average earnings during the highest two quarters in the calculation period.

Currently, about 25 percent of claimants receive the maximum benefit amount and 6 percent receive the minimum.

The combination of regular unemployment benefits and emergency benefits and extensions allow workers who are eligible for all these programs to receive benefits for up to 99 weeks total, however some of the emergency benefits will end on July 31, 2010.

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Home Foreclosures

Foreclosure and Homelessness

A study released on June 26, 2009 by the National Alliance to End Homelessness and six other advocacy organizations found that, nationally, 5% of shelter and transitional housing clients were homeless as a result of foreclosures. Most of these people had been renters rather than property owners.

Local Foreclosure Rates

Public Health Seattle King County has prepared data on Notice of Trustee Sales from the King County Recorders office website to estimate trends in home foreclosures. For more recent updates, an explanation of the foreclosure process and maps showing where Notice of Trustee Sales have been recorded in the County, please see Communities Count 2008, Data Updates and Recession-Linked Data.

Foreclosure filings increased again in March, 2010.
Foreclosure rates have been rising in King County since Spring of 2007.
There is a concentration of higher numbers of foreclosures in the south/central, southwest and southeast parts of King County..

Source: *These data were prepared by Public Health Seattle-King County for Communities Count, Taken from the King County recorders website: http://146.129.54.93:8193/search.asp?cabinet=opr
Notices of Trustee Sale are a useful representation of foreclosures.

Foreclosure Need Scores

The Foreclosure Response Project has created foreclosure needs scores for every zip code in the US. The 15 zip codes in King County with the highest needs scores are all in South King County with Federal Way topping the list. Tacoma and other parts of Pierce County have considerably higher need scores than any part of King County. Download Foreclosure Need Scores by Jurisdiction