The week in work: taking cakes, hedging bets, playing games, and more :)
Takes the cake and eats it too
New state by state research by the Economic Policy institute finds that the top 1% took literally all of the income gains in Washington from 2009 - 2012. The top 1% got 45% richer, while the rest of us actually saw incomes decline over those years. The longer view is even worse. Adjusted for inflation, the richest sliver grew 188% richer since 1979. The rest of us? Down 3.4%.
It is the biggest gaming parlor in Olympia
Business lobby groups have been telling the same old scare stories since we made them stop putting three-year-olds to work in coal mines, but one key word helped change the minimum wage debate this year: Bingo! And after some fun & games at the Capitol and some powerful testimony from workers, a bill to raise the statewide minimum wage advanced out of committee on Thursday.
This Hunger Games prequel is getting really depressing
While the superrich gathered at a Swiss resort and discussed purchasing remote airstrips as a hedge against political instability, King County Housing Authority opened their waiting list for Section 8 vouchers for the first time in several years. More than 10,000 low-income people applied for 2,500 spaces on the waiting list in just 18 hours. Those who meet income and other qualifications for a voucher…will be entered in a lottery…to get on a waiting list…that's years long.
Emojinal labor
😷😐 The City of Tacoma passed a new paid sick days law by an 8-1 vote — a step forward, but the policy still falls short if you think it’s fairly normal to be sick more than three days a year.
✈️🌞 Sea-Tac Airport is planning a massive expansion as it grows into a major hub for Delta as well as Alaska. Will that mean thousands more poverty-wage jobs serving air travelers — or will there be a Terminal $15 at last?
🏤👍 And now that emoji have been read into evidence at trial, it’s a whole new world. We’re eagerly preparing expert testimony for the next committee hearing on low-wage jobs: burger, fries, money, house with tree, sun rising over city. #spoileralert