Rhonda Simmons, executive director of Seattle Jobs Initiative, began the meeting with startling statistics. The recent Job Gap report from the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations reported that 32% of all job openings in Washington State pay less than a living wage for a single adult, and 77% pay less than a living wage for a single adult with two children.   She also cited Seattle Jobs Initiative's report, Beyond the Bottom Line, which showed that 1 in 4 working families in Washington State does not earn enough to cover their basic needs. 

"For this reason, we need to develop some urgency around this issue," said Simmons. "I hope this discussion today gets us excited, and generates new ideas."

Senior policy analyst Mark Gardner followed, giving a presentation about the economic trends affecting middle wage jobs on the national, state and local levels. Paul Sommers, a professor at Seattle University, followed up with a presentation that detailed some of the types of jobs – and education levels required – likely to result from current "cluster" economic development strategies supported by the Puget Sound's Prosperity Partnership.

Participants were asked to consider and discuss various policy proposals aiming to create better jobs in Washington State, and to come up with their own. A handful of suggestions came out of the discussion, including adding job quality standards to tax subsidies, using the public sector to help organize and improve industries providing "public goods" (e.g. child care), and improving access to training for employees of small businesses.

As a follow-up to the conference, interested participants have been invited to join a "Middle Wage Working Group" to explore additional research on middle wage job trends, and to develop policy strategies to improve the job creation picture.  For more information, please contact Mark Gardner at (206) 628-6985 or mgardner@seattlejobsinit.com.