Employment & Job Readiness

• Why focus on job training and employment?
• Context
• Population growth
• Work force
• Job openings
• Wages
• Education
• Poverty
• Immigration
• Best practices
• Resources
• Footnotes

Vision

Residents of King County earn a living wage and are able to provide for themselves and their families.

Why focus on job training & employment?

• Over 1 million workers, one third of Washington State’s civilian work force, lives in King County.
• 22% of King County workers do not make sufficient wages to care for themselves and their families. Still others cannot gain consistent employment and are dependent on public benefits and other supports to survive.
• Nearly one-fourth of all low-wage earners are immigrants or refugees and those populations continue to grow.
• Wages in high skill jobs and in certain industries have increased over the past decade but wages have stayed flat or declined in many entry level low-wage jobs.  
• Often people cannot progress to living wage jobs because they lack the skills, education and English language ability to advance in their employment.
• It is imperative to improve the ability of low-wage workers to progress out of entry-level jobs so that they can increase their capacity to care for themselves and their families.
  In 2004, more than one in five (22.6%) of the people in King County were living in a household without a living wage income. That is a 3% increase over 1999.^[1]
• Earlier data showed that of the four regions in King County, Seattle had the greatest percentage of persons without a living wage income (25.0%), followed closely by South King County (21.7%), then North King County (14.1%), and East King County (10.9%).
• South King County reflected the most dramatic increase from 1989 – 1999 (18.6% to 21.7%). The percentage decreased in Seattle and East King County, and increased slightly in North King County (13.5% to 14.1%).  

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Context

The ability of people to acquire and retain living wage jobs is influenced by a variety of demographic, economic and cultural factors beyond the control of funders and providers committed to helping them gain employment. For example, growth in the population can create greater demand for goods and services and increased competition for jobs which can positively influence wages, while at the same time instability in the regional or national economy can dampen demand for labor and negatively influence wages.

Regardless of the demographic or economic conditions, when good paying jobs are available people must have the skills to be hired into those positions and the stability in their lives to be successful. Certain vulnerable populations, especially very low income people without specific skills and consistent work history, and people new to this country who have not become acculturated, require additional attention and resources to help them become productive employees who are able to advance to well paying jobs.

Population Growth:

• Between 1990 and 2000, the U.S. Census reports that King County has grown at a rate of 15.2%. The rate has slowed in the past few years relative to the last decade.
• King County’s population ranked 13th in a 2002 size comparison of U.S. counties.^[2]
• By 1990, South King County had the largest sub regional population. In the ten years from 1990-2000, South King County grew by 103,205 people, a 20% rate. This accounts for 44.9% of the total growth in the county.^[3]

Work Force

• The labor force in King County continues to grow and the unemployment rate declined for the third straight year.
• The average civilian labor force size in King County for 2006 was 1,044,340 and the average number employed was 1,000,640.
• The annual unemployment rate in King County for 2006 was 4.2% down from 4.7% in 2005. This continues the downward trend from the 25 year high unemployment rate of 6.2% in 2003.

The official unemployment rate does not take into account “discouraged workers,” that is unemployed workers who have given up looking for work because they believe that they will not find a job. Depending on the tightness of the labor market best estimates indicate that the adjusted unemployment rate, including discouraged workers, is between .2 and .5% higher than the official unemployment rate.

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Job Openings

• The local job market is definitely improving: King County now leads Washington State in job growth. Our unemployment rate has dropped steadily since 2003 to the 2005 level of 4.7 percent, as compared to the state’s average rate of 5.5 percent. King County had approximately 35,592 job vacancies in October 2005, an increase of 14,648 jobs from October 2004.
• According to Employment Security Department’s job vacancy survey, the top three occupation groups in King County with the highest number of job openings during 2005 were computer applications software engineers, computer systems software engineers, and registered nurses. Administrative/office positions show strong demand, as well as retail salespeople.
• Construction related jobs will be in demand. Despite rising costs in construction, the downtown Seattle area has 49 new condominium projects planned – 13 of which are already under construction. Completion date is 2010. Other publicly funded projects such as the Sound Transit, Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement, hospitals, and road improvements will put a strain on the local workforce over the next few years.
• According to the Seattle Consumer Price Index, most in-demand occupations showed wage growth beyond the rate of inflation, approximately 4 percent between 2003 and 2005. The jobs that did not show wage growth were lower-skill jobs such as retail salespersons and movers. Not surprisingly, higher-paying jobs – such as computer engineers at $81,972 or registered nurses at $65,223 – are more specialized, requiring post secondary education and previous experience.

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Wages

For most people wages earned through work are the primary source of income. Wage rates for most jobs are driven by market forces but there is a minimum wage that civilian non agricultural employers are required to pay any worker in the State of Washington.

• The minimum wage in the state of Washington as of July 2007 is $7.93 per hour and will increase to $8.07 per hour in January 2008.
• The Washington State minimum wage is the highest in the nation and Washington is one of less than 10 states that adjusts it rate annually for inflation.
• A full time minimum wage worker earns approximately $16,000 per year.
• Because of the high cost of living in King County an income greater than the minimum wage is necessary to pay for basic necessities.

According to the Self Sufficiency Calculator provided by the Workforce Development Council of Seattle / King County depending on the size and composition of the family as much as three times the minimum wage may be necessary to maintain self sufficiency. The table below shows the average annual expenses 4 different household types would experience living in King County and the wages necessary to make ends meet.

Source: Washington State Employment Security Department

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Education

Education is a critical foundational element of job readiness. High School completion is required for the vast majority of jobs and additional education and specific skills training is often necessary to acquire and retain a well paying job.

• In 2005, 76.5% of King County high school students graduated on time and an additional 4.9% completed graduation requirements within a year after their expected graduation date
• In 2006, 90% of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school
  40% of people over 25 had a bachelor's degree or higher.
• Among people 16 to 19 years old, 9 percent were dropouts; they were not enrolled in school and had not graduated from high school.
• The total school enrollment in King County was 415,000 in 2004. Pre-primary school enrollment was 51,000 and elementary or high school enrollment was 249,000 children. College enrollment was 114,000.

Washington, like many other states, is moving toward “high stakes” testing of student achievement through the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). Passing the WASL will soon be a requirement for graduation. Student performance on the WASL is also an indicator of overall achievement and one of several predictors of a student’s ability to be successful at higher levels of education.

• In 2007 98.6% of 10 graders in King County met the WASL reading standard but only 66% of 10th graders met the WASL math standard.
• Fourth grade performance on the WASL is an early indicator of student potential to achieve in later grades and perform on standardized tests in later years. In 2007, 81.2% of King County 4th graders met the WASL reading standard while 66% met the WASL math standard.

A student’s ability to learn in school is related to several factors that may limit his or her capacity to understand what is being taught or participate in class in a meaningful way.
The diversity in King County is reflected in the growing number of students for which English is not the first language.

• The number of languages spoken by students in King County school districts varied between 30 and 65.
• Over 22,000 students or 8.8% of the total student population in King County participated in Transitional Bilingual programs offered through public schools in 2005.

Sufficient nourishment is necessary for normal development of a child and is very important to a student’s ability to maximize the learning experience in school. The Free and Reduced Price lunch program provides students with a substantial meal at little or no cost to children of parents with low incomes. The lunch program is also an indicator of the level of the number of children living in or near poverty in our community.

• Over 75,000 or 29.4% of the student population in King County qualified for free or reduced price lunches in 2006.

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Poverty

• In 2003 over 165,000 people or 9.4% of the King County population lived in households with income below the official federal poverty level.^[4]
• The highest concentrations of poverty in King County are in Seattle and South King County region evidenced by Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) caseloads for three state programs, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), food assistance, and General Assistance (GA).
• A snapshot of DSHS Region 4 (King County) Assistance Programs by catchment area (CSO offices) for a two-month period in 2004 reveals:
• There were 11,511 families and individuals receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) during that period. Over 84% of TANF recipients resided in either Seattle or South King County.
• There were 49,100 families and individuals receiving food assistance, 79.5% of which were in Seattle and South King County. 12.1% of recipients resided in North King County; and 8.4% in East King County.
• There were 8,664 people on General Assistance (GA), 77% of which resided in Seattle or South King County.

Immigration

• Language and cultural barriers, coupled with immigration policy impacting legal and work status challenges, delay the smooth transition of limited English job seekers into our local workforce.
•  Eleven percent of people in the United States are either foreign born immigrants and refugees, or U.S. born to families of immigrants and refugees.
•  Nationally, one out of every 4 low-wage workers is an immigrant or refugee.
  Nearly half of all foreign-born residents in Washington State arrived after 1990 and 60% are non-citizens. The majority of our current foreign- born refugee and immigrant residents originated in Asia, Latin America, Mexico and Africa.  
• According to the 2000 U.S. Census 268,285 King County residents, or 15.4% of the King population, were foreign born.
• The rate of growth in the King County foreign born population between 1990 and 2000 was 90.8% compared to 7.5% in the native born population over the same period.^[5]

Considering America’s aging workforce and rate of growth of foreign born populations and the expanding, crucial role refugees and immigrants play in our workforce/economy, it is imperative that state and local workforce planning entities create and implement easy access to streamlined systems that effectively move limited English-speaking workers from low wage, non-benefited jobs, through career progression pathways to continuous language, work skill and wage advancements.

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Best Practices

Go to the index to best and promising practices

Resources

Footnotes

^[1] 2004 data from the American Community Survey. The survey sample size provides for reporting at the county level, but cannot be reported by region.
^[2] Washington State Employment Security Department
^[3] 2000 U.S. Census Data
^[4] U.S. Census Bureau, Small Area Estimate, Washington Counties, 2003
^[5] 2000 Census. U. S Census Bureau.

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