Latest news with #EmploymentSecurityDepartment
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Average annual salary in Washington nears $100,000 a year
(Photo illustration by Getty images) Salaries in Washington continued to climb in 2024. The statewide average annual wage reached $95,160 last year, according to the Washington Employment Security Department. That's 6.8% higher than in 2023, when the average was $89,138. The increase was driven by a 0.7% boost in employment and a 7.5% hike in total wages and salaries, which grew by nearly $23.5 billion in 2024, the department reported. Statewide, the average weekly wage rose from $1,714 in 2023 to $1,830 in 2024, according to figures in a department press release. Preliminary data for each county will not be available until later this month. Those numbers will make clear how much King County's higher-paid workforce pushes up the average. In 2023, King County recorded an average salary of just over $120,000, followed by Snohomish County at nearly $79,000. Wahkiakum County had the lowest at roughly $43,000 with Okanogan County slightly higher. Overall, in 23 counties, the average yearly salary was under $60,000. The 2024 figures are used by the Employment Security Department to calculate minimum and maximum unemployment benefits for new claims opened on or after July 6. Starting that day, the minimum weekly benefit for new claims will increase by $24 to $366. The amount is 20% of the average weekly wage. The maximum weekly benefit will increase by $73 to $1,152. It is calculated as the greater of $496 or 63% of the average weekly wage. No one can receive a weekly benefit amount that exceeds their average weekly wage. The department also uses the average annual wage to calibrate maximum benefits for Paid Family and Medical Leave claims that are filed starting Jan. 1, 2026. Weekly payments will top out at $1,647 with the minimum amount remaining at $100. Historically, Washington's annual wage exceeds the national average. The state Office of Financial Management reported in 2022 that Washington had an $83,665 average salary compared to the national mark of $70,282. In September, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Washington's average weekly wage of $1,781 ranked higher than every other state. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
India.com
03-06-2025
- Business
- India.com
Days after sacking 6000 employees, Satya Nadella's Microsoft lays off hundreds of workers in…, move to affect….
After companywide cuts by Microsoft in which they had cut 3% of the company's staff, now they are laying off 305 employees in company notified affected workers on Monday, according to a state Employment Security Department filing cited by media report. Microsoft also claimed that layoffs were much less than 1% of its total workforce but didn't reveal if employees outside of Washington were affected by it or not. 'We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,' a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. In May, the company had laid off more than 6,000 people in a 3% cut of its workforce. Out of which 1,985 employees affected were from Washington. Microsoft justified the layoffs Monday and also earlier in May by stating that it was restructuring its workforce. The company also said it was looking to reduce management layers, but the report cited data and claimed that only non-managers were affected. The layoffs hit mostly software engineers and product managers. Less than 17% of the layoffs affected employees who were listed as managers. In two rounds of layoffs, Microsoft has fired around 2,300 employees in Washington this year. Earlier in 2023, the company had fired 3,200 people, which was the biggest layoffs round. After the COVID-19 pandemic other tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Google also laid off thousands of workers to reduce their staff.
Hans India
03-06-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Microsoft lays off more employees after huge job cut in AI era
New Delhi: Tech giant Microsoft has cut hundreds of more jobs just weeks after reducing nearly 3 per cent of its global workforce in the AI era. As per a filing with Washington state's Employment Security Department, 305 additional employees in Redmond, Washington have been asked to leave. A company spokesperson said in a statement the latest headcount reduction is in addition to the 6,000 job cuts announced last month, which is roughly 3 per cent of its global workforce. "We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace," the spokesperson was quoted as saying in reports. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said that the recent layoffs were not linked to employee performance but due to organisational restructuring. Addressing staff during a town-hall meeting, Nadella said the layoffs were necessary to realign teams in accordance with Microsoft's evolving priorities, particularly its growing focus on artificial intelligence. He acknowledged the emotional toll of the decision but underscored that it was driven by strategic shifts, not shortcomings in productivity or talent. Last month, Frank X Shaw, Chief Communications Officer, Microsoft, said that 'We've entered the era of AI agents'. 'Thanks to groundbreaking advancements in reasoning and memory, AI models are now more capable and efficient, and we're seeing how AI systems can help us all solve problems in new ways. For example, 15 million developers are already using GitHub Copilot, and features like agent mode and code review are streamlining the way they code, check, deploy and troubleshoot,' he said during the 'Microsoft Build 2025' event. Hundreds of thousands of customers are using Microsoft 365 Copilot to help research, brainstorm and develop solutions, and more than 230,000 organisations — including 90 per cent of the Fortune 500 — have already used Copilot Studio to build AI agents and automations.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Employers ready to recruit at WorkSource Hiring Event
May 19—MOSES LAKE — Folks who are looking for work will stand a good chance of finding it May 30 at WorkSource's Spring Hiring Event. "In the past, we've had an average of 400 people come through for this event, and a lot of them make great connections with the employers," said Employment Security Department Business Services/Employment Development Specialist Crysie Kluth. There were 25 employers slated Wednesday to have a presence inside the hiring event, Kluth said, and a few more are expected to sign on. Outside the building will be a variety of community partners, including military recruiters, Grant County, the Department of Social and Health Services, Job Corps and more. Job seekers are encouraged to bring resumes with them, Kluth said, and if they need help polishing them up, well, nobody knows their way around a resume like the staff at WorkSource. There will be computers on hand, Kluth said, to print out resumes and so prospective employees can apply for jobs electronically before actually speaking with the company recruiters. "They're welcome to come in and sit at the computers and start applying for these employers," she said. "We will have a list of employers available so that people can go and look at the positions that they're hiring for and apply. (Then) they can come in and present their resume and talk to the employer to let the employer know that 'I've applied. I'm interested. What are the steps from here?'" Not all employers will accept resumes in person, Kluth added, so it's a good idea to come prepared to apply by either method. Job seekers should dress to impress, Kluth said. Also, those who have children under 16 should find someone to watch them for a couple of hours, just as if they were going to a job interview. One way in which the WorkSource event differs from some other job fairs is that attendees are asked to create a SecureAccess Washington account at either beforehand or at the event on the computers provided. "It takes maybe five or 10 minutes of your time," Kluth said. Just ... fill in the information with your name, your address, your phone number, fill it out the best that you can and your account will be set up, and you'll be ready to go." The first 60 job seekers who come to the event will receive a ticket for either free tacos from Mazatlan Taqueria or a free drink from Favored Farmhouse Coffee. Applicants can come early and pre-register, Kluth said, and they'll be given a ticket. That alleviates crowding when the event starts at 10 a.m., she explained. Anyone who would like more information is invited to contact Kluth at 509-766-4149 or WorkSource Spring Hiring Event May 30, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. WorkSource Central Basin 309 E. Fifth Ave., Moses Lake Employers: Columbia Basin Hospital Family Medicine The Gorge Amphitheatre Agri-Stor Company Northwest Grant County Sheriff's Office Sila Nanotechnologies International Paper Quincy Columbia Basin Irrigation District Impact Staffing Solutions Moses Lake Industries City of Moses Lake Group14 Technologies Okanagan Specialty Fruits Quincy Foods Express Employment Professionals McCain Foods Inc CBHA Moses Lake School District Transportation Genie — Terex Samaritan Healthcare JR Simplot Agri Beef FedEx Walmart — Moses Lake & Ephrata Moses Lake Community Health Center BBSI
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Low-income workers should not have to give higher-income workers more of their wages
(Photo by) All W-2 workers in Washington state should count on continual pay decreases to pay for the state's mandatory paid-leave program — a program that doesn't pay its way and that requires low-income wage earners to supplement the life needs and wants of upper-wage earners. How's that for regressive? Employment Security Department numbers show that middle- and upper-income people use paid leave far more than those with lower incomes. In fact, people making $60 or more an hour used the fund nearly twice as much as the lowest wage earners in fiscal year 2024. Meanwhile, full-time workers of all incomes already lose hundreds of dollars a year to this tax. (Calculate your losses here: The Paid Family and Medical Leave program is no safety net. It makes most workers less able to pay for the life needs they do have. The Legislature should have considered ending it this year. Instead, lawmakers considered Senate Bill 5292, which in the end proposed taxing workers up to $2 of every $100 in earnings in the coming years for a benefit many will never see. That new, higher rate would've been more than double the current tax. The bill died, but the proposal could still be considered again next session. That's likely because the funding now available for the program doesn't cover its costs. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee said that administrative costs and benefits exceeded revenue for the paid-leave program in two of its first four years. And in 2023, the program got a $200 million bailout from the state's general fund to deal with higher-than-expected claims. The fix was temporary, however. A state consultant forecasts that the program will likely see negative net income again in three of the next five years. That's not hard to understand. People like it when other taxpayers help pay for their life wants and needs — especially when a portion of their wages has contributed to a pool of money during their working years. This year, the tax for the program is already 92 cents on every $100 a worker earns — up to the 2025 Social Security cap of $176,100. That's more than twice the amount when the tax began in 2019 at 40 cents per $100 of earnings. (Employees pay about 72% of this tax. Employers contribute about 28% on behalf of their employees. That's money that then can't go toward increased worker pay or other benefits.) The most recent version of Senate Bill 5292 outlined increases in the 1.2% Paid Family and Medical Leave tax rate cap. The bill called for raising it to 1.4% in 2027 and 2028, 1.6% in 2029 and 2030, 1.8% in 2031 and 2032, and 2% for 2033 and subsequent years. While some supporters of this harmful worker tax brag that thousands have been helped by it, they fail to mention that millions of workers have not. And for some of those workers, making ends meet is more difficult because of it. The paid-leave tax penalty state lawmakers have placed on workers puts self-sufficiency further out of reach for some Washingtonians and should end. Federal law already allows workers 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid family leave. It doesn't pay people not to work while taxing those who do work but don't have the luxury of taking weeks off, even with paid leave.
