New Seattle group seeks to help create 100,000 new jobs

Local business and community leaders launched a new effort that they hope will create 100,000 new jobs over the next six years, in another effort to improve the job pool and business climate in Seattle.

By PAUL NYHAN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/195504_jobs16.html

The plan attempts to link the public, private and non-profit worlds. Commercial airplane chief Alan Mulally at The Boeing Co., local YWCA President Rita Ryder and Microsoft Corp.’s top lawyer, Brad Smith, are three of six co-chairmen.

While the local economy is recovering, the job base remains diminished. Washington state still has not recovered nearly 30,000 of the jobs it lost during its recession. The new group wants to attract new jobs, not work already projected to arrive in the coming years.

"If we think we’re not in a sustained competition with the rest of the world, we will all deeply regret our inaction," Bob Watt, vice president for government and community affairs at Boeing, said in a speech yesterday.

Regional economic development initiatives are nothing new. The proof of this strategy will be measured in whether policy-makers implement real reforms that result in cooperation on land use, housing and other issues, according to Greg LeRoy, director of Washington, D.C.-based Good Jobs First, which studies jobs subsidies.

"The issue will be can they walk the talk," LeRoy said.

The new partnership will address some very old problems, such as the region’s clogged roads and demand for higher education. The Prosperity Partnership plans to hold an economic summit on Nov. 19 to help develop its overall approach.
P-I reporter Paul Nyhan can be reached at 206-448-8145 or [email protected]