Washington’s state economist, Arun Raha, recently had some optimistic words at a recent presentation to the Association of Washington Business. According to the AWB, Raha expects jobs and sales of big-ticket items such as cars to pick up in the second half of 2011. Here’s a (link) to the AWB post about that presentation.
According to the post, he believes productivity will start to decline with the current staffing levels, causing hiring to take place. I’ve been wondering about that myself: Often in the local business community I’ve been hearing from employees who feel like they have too much on their plate these days, covering for positions that either went unfilled or were eliminated. It’s a common theme, but jobs are the key to this recovery.
It’s interesting to see Raha more upbeat; the state revenue forecasts his agency issues has been more pessimistic, preparing legislators for further revenue shortfalls. Something he mentioned that’s been holding the economic recovery back is consumer confidence. Any thoughts on whether things will improve in Washington in the second half of 2011?
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