Trends and Developments Concerning Washington Public Labor Contracts
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
Last week’s BLS Report revealed a significant jump in the inflation rate. The April All Cities index was 2.0%, up from 1.0% in February. The Seattle index jumped from 1.3%, to 2.6% during the same two-month period. The numbers show CPI edging up over the past year:
By Jim Cline
Most of our recent blogs on economic developments have emphasized the modest nature of recent economic improvement, but a series of reports over the past few weeks have signaled that the economy may, at last, be gathering a bit of momentum as it heads into 2014. While the government shutdown and debt ceiling debate seemed to place a chill on the economy this fall, these new economic releases have often exceeded economists’ expectations and point to a possible improved economy in the year ahead. [Read more…]
By Jim Cline
Last week, we reported the sudden drop in the National and Seattle CPI numbers and also discussed the potential impact on 2014 and 2015 negotiations. In October, we had also written about the 2% inflation target established by the Federal Reserve Bank as they use monetary policy to attempt to control inflation. We explained how the Fed seems to be falling short on those 2% goals:
