Workforce Last updated: October 2014

Workforce

Downtown Seattle offers the region's highest concentration of jobs.

 Downtown Seattle had an employee population of 243,995. This figure represented nearly half (49 percent) of jobs in Seattle and 21 percent of those in King County, the state's most populous county, with 2 million residents.

 Service sector jobs comprised 59 percent of jobs in Downtown Seattle. Examples of services include Personal Services, Business Services, Amusement & Recreational Services, Health Services, Legal Services and Social Services.

 Government was the second largest sector Downtown with 14 percent of the total jobs there falling in that category.

 Downtown was home to 71 percent of the government jobs located in Seattle (includes city, county, state and federal jobs).

Recovery Continuing Strong

After the “Great Recession”, Downtown has seen steady employment growth, adding an average of 25 new jobs per day since 2010. This has attracted new residents along with a housing and office construction boom as more people are drawn toward living in a vibrant urban center like Downtown Seattle.

Note: For the purpose of this report, a “recession” is defined as a period of decreasing employment in the Puget Sound Region. In 2013:

 Downtown employment was at its highest level since 2000, adding 27,857 jobs since 2010. This is 7,000 more than the number of jobs lost Downtown during the most recent recession.

 Downtown Seattle accounted for nearly two-thirds (59 percent) of the jobs lost during the recession and three quarters (74 percent) of the net increase in Seattle since 2010.

 Year-over-year, Downtown saw a four percent increase, similar to increases across the region.

 In Seattle, the private sector drove job growth during the recovery, adding nearly 41,000 jobs since 2010. During that same period, nearly 4,000 jobs were lost in Seattle in the public sector (government and public sector education jobs)

 The chart below details changes over the two most recent recessions and recoveries in Downtown and the five cities in the region with the largest employee populations.

-15% -10% -5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Employment Downtown vs. Puget Sound Cities

Percent Change Since 2000

Downtown Employment Profile

Getting to Work

Seattle is now one of only five cities in the U.S. where fewer than half of the commuters drive solo to the office1.

A survey conducted in late 2012 by Commute Seattle found that a majority 66 percent of those who work in Downtown Seattle now commute by a mode other than driving alone - an estimated 16 percentage point reduction in single-occupancy vehicles since 2000. The first choice among commuters is public transit.

Source: 2012 Commute Seattle Center City Mode Split Survey

Among employed Downtown residents, most (56 percent) commute to work by either walking (34 percent) or transit (22 percent). Only 30 percent of Downtown residents drive alone to work2.

Other interesting facts about Downtown commute patterns3:

 Approximately 230,000 workers commute to Downtown every day.

 Nearly half (48 percent) of these workers travel less than 10 miles to get to work.

 Over a third (38 percent) of those who live Downtown also work Downtown.

1

Based on Census Data as reported by the Seattle Times: “Cars losing grip on Seattle”, October 15, 2013

2 _{American Community Survey, 2008-2012 Estimates}

43% 34% 9% 6% 3% 4% Transit Drive Alone Rideshare Walk Bike Other

Downtown Employees

Types of Jobs Downtown

Source: Puget Sound Regional Council 2013 Covered Employment Estimates

Employee Demographics

Source: U.S. Census Bureau. OnTheMap Application. Longitudinal-Employer Household Dynamics Program. http://onthemap.ces.census.gov/ (based on 2011 estimates)

1,711 4,214 4,753 9,690 22,660 23,618 33,242 144,107 Education Const/Res Manufacturing WTU Retail FIRE Government Services

Regional Comparisons

Downtown Seattle comprises only 4.7 percent of the land mass in the City of Seattle4. Employment is highly concentrated in this area with 49 percent of the jobs in the city. Industries that are especially concentrated Downtown include Finance, Insurance & Real Estate, Government, and Services. While Downtown has 49 percent of the overall jobs in the city; in these industries, it has a 74, 72 and 53 percent share, respectively. The table below summarizes 2013 Downtown, city, county and regional employment by sector.

2013 Employment Regional Comparisons

Downtown Seattle King

County Puget Sound Region Services 144,107 269,885 588,079 820,964 Government 33,242 46,352 85,515 162,004

Finance, Insurance & Real Estate 23,618 32,056 65,953 92,223

Retail 22,660 45,581 114,708 187,453

Wholesale, Transportation & Utilities 9,690 29,428 101,076 140,244

Manufacturing 4,753 25,940 104,075 188,107

Construction 4,214 17,874 52,350 87,739

Education 1,711 32,831 72,055 117,047

Total 243,995 499,947 1,183,811 1,795,781

Seattle lost nearly 35,000 jobs to the recession, about 20,000 Downtown. Everett, boosted by hiring at Boeing, was not as affected as other area employment centers. Redmond was the most significantly affected, partially due to layoffs at Microsoft during that period. During the recovery (2010-2013)5, Downtown employment increased 13 percent, recovering about 7,400 more jobs than the number of jobs lost (2009-2010). The table below shows totals from 2000, 2008 and 2013. A line chart on page 2 also shows these changes in these geographies since 2000.

Historic Employment: various local geographies

2000 2008 2013

Puget Sound Region 1,662,879 1,797,150 1,795,781

King County 1,149,642 1,185,372 1,183,811 Seattle 502,835 497,047 499,496 Downtown Seattle 244,218 236,628 243,995 Bellevue 118,400 128,330 126,425 Tacoma 99,810 103,231 96,193 Everett 72,286 83,895 87,539 Redmond 73,436 89,570 77,615

Changes in Employment Levels 2010-2013

The tables in this section summarize changes since the post-recession recovery began. In the section that follows (starting on page 8), longer-term trends (2000 to 2013) are examined.

Retail, which includes E-Commerce and Mail Order jobs, saw the greatest percent increase Downtown. This sector experienced more than a doubling in the number of employees during the recovery. While company level data is not available, this points to the fact that Amazon.com is likely a key driver to increased employment Downtown. Manufacturing saw the second largest increase (25 percent). Manufacturing includes some of the subcategories within both the Information Technology and the Life Sciences and Global Health business clusters. Services, which also have some overlap with these two clusters, saw the greatest numeric increase (13,358 jobs).

Downtown Employment by Sector 2010 2013 % Change

Retail

9,817

22,660

131%

Manufacturing

3,796

4,753

25%

Education

1,429

1,711

20%

Services

130,749

144,107

10%

Finance, Insurance & Real Estate

_22,317

_23,618

_6%

Government

33,594

33,242

-1%

Construction

4,314

4,214

-2%

Wholesale, Transportation & Utilities

10,123

9,690

-4%

Total

216,139

243,995

13%

All of the region’s top five employment cities showed increases between 2010 and 2013. Among all cities in the Puget Sound, Seattle ranked highest for the number of employees gained during the recovery. In the region, Seattle experienced the largest numeric increase (37,766) between 2010 and 2013. Even Downtown alone had a greater net increase in jobs (27,857) than any other city in the region outside of Seattle.

Total Employment 2010 2013 % Change

Region

1,673,354

1,795,781

King

1,099,639

1,183,811

Seattle

462,180

499,946

Downtown

216,139

243,996

Bellevue

119,892

126,425

Tacoma

97,223

98,730

Everett

81,996

91,310

Redmond

76,876

79,649

Changes in the private and public sectors during the recovery

Puget Sound area jobs recovery continues to be dominated by the private sector. The region saw a nine percent change during the recovery in private sector jobs and a 1 percent decrease in public sector jobs. In Downtown Seattle, the private sector saw a 15 percent increase in private sector jobs while public sector job numbers were flat6.

Private Sector Employment 2010 2013 % Change

Region

1,390,343

1,516,730

9%

King

942,055

1,026,241

9%

Seattle

379,142

420,764

11%

Downtown Seattle

181,116

209,042

15%

Bellevue

111,804

116,598

4%

Tacoma

78,261

79,243

1%

Everett

71,852

81,384

13%

Redmond

74,937

77,495

3%

Citywide, the public sector saw an 5 percent decrease in jobs while the private sector saw an 11 percent increase. None of the top five employment cities saw an increase in public sector jobs between 2010 and 2012. However, in 2013 Bellevue and Redmond became exceptions to the dominance of public sector jobs driving the recovery due to an increase in public sector jobs there primarily driven by education related employment.

Public Sector Employment 2010 2013 % Change

Region

283,011

279,051

-1%

King

157,584

157,570

0%

Seattle

83,038

79,183

-5%

Downtown Seattle

35,023

34,953

0%

Tacoma

18,962

19,486

3%

Everett

10,144

9,926

-2%

Bellevue

8,088

9,827

22%

Redmond

1,939

2,153

11%

Outside of Seattle, public sector job losses in the region were concentrated in the government sector while the education subsector saw increases. In Seattle, there were 2,116 fewer government jobs and 1,739 fewer education jobs than in 2010. Downtown had roughly the same number of public sector jobs in 2013 as in 2010 (with a slight decrease in government and slight increase in education jobs).

Changes in Employment Levels 2000-2013

Among the top employment cities in the region, Everett saw both the greatest percent and numeric increase in employment levels since 2000. Much of this is likely due to strong hiring at Boeing. While Bellevue, Everett and Redmond employment levels were higher in 2013 than in 2000, Seattle and Downtown are just now reaching a level of employment last seen in 2000.

Total Employment 2000 2013 % Change

Region _{1,662,879 1,795,781}

_8%

_3%

_-1%

_0%

_7%

_-1%

_26%

_8%

Since 2000, private sector employment saw gains through most of the region, in particular in Everett, with a 30 percent gain, again likely weighed heavily by Boeing and related companies who benefit from the strong aerospace industry there. In Seattle and Downtown, employment was relatively flat from 2000 to 2013, despite the recent recovery.

Private Sector Employment 2000 2013 % Change

Region 1,411,250 1,516,730 7% King 1,003,744 1,026,241 2% Seattle 423,176 420,764 -1% Downtown Seattle 209,330 209,042 0% Bellevue 111,248 116,598 5% Tacoma 83,342 79,243 -5% Everett 62,785 81,384 30% Redmond 71,333 77,495 9%

Contrary to the 2010-2013 changes detailed in the previous section, increases in employment over the long term (since 2000) were stronger in the public sector, with Bellevue and Tacoma both seeing double digit gains and an 11 percent increase across the region.

Public Sector Employment 2000 2013 % Change

Region 251,629 279,051 11% King 145,898 157,570 8% Seattle 79,659 79,182 -1% Downtown Seattle 34,888 34,953 0% Tacoma 16,468 19,487 18% Everett 9,501 9,926 4% Bellevue 7,152 9,827 37% Redmond 2,103 2,154 2%

Notes

Employee count data in this document were provided by the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC). "Covered Employment” includes jobs covered by federal and state unemployment programs (typically about 85-90 percent of all jobs). Note also that counts are based on the number of jobs and not the number of employees (if an employee holds two jobs in the area, both jobs are counted in the database). The most recent figures are available from the Puget Sound Regional Council at www.psrc.org.

Downtown Seattle totals in this report are from a custom query provided by the Puget Sound Regional Council using the boundary in the map below. Please note that this is a change from previous DSA reports, which used data based on census tract boundaries to estimate employment.

Demographic information for area employees came from the U.S. Census Bureau data downloaded from

http://onthemap.ces.census.gov. This data set represents a different timeline (2011) and methodology from PSRC data.