To restart economy in Seattle area, ‘safety and security is paramount’

People gather in Pike Place Market as Seattle hits 70 percent COVID-19 vaccination rate on June 10, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by David Ryder / Getty Images)

With the COVID-19 pandemic appearing to be at an end and the triple-digit temperatures shocking the Seattle area in early June, it will be interesting to see if this could have a lasting impact on the local economy, or even if they make the Northwest one less attractive place to live.

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“Do I expect that we will see more events like this? Yes, ”said Windermere Chief Economist Matthew Gardner. “But will it be an everyday occurrence? No. We went through a remarkable three days. The last time we had over 100 degrees for a day, I think, was in June 2009. So that was a long time ago. “

“Also, less than 50% of all homes in the city of Seattle have air conditioning, and if nothing else, I expect air conditioning sales to skyrocket,” added Gardner.

Now that the city of Seattle and elsewhere is out of the pandemic of more vaccinated people, they are focused on getting back to a normal economy. For Dave Ross of KIRO Radio, he sees this as necessary, not only for the good of Seattle, but for the entire region.

“Oh, absolutely,” Gardner agreed. “I would call that the first and most important thing. The goal of the [Downtown Seattle Association], and quite frankly everyone in Seattle, is to get people back. We know the work from home that I know we’ve talked about is unlikely to ever return to the 350,000 people downtown in one work day. “

“I think it’s going to be a mix – it’s not black and white – it won’t always work either in the office or at home, but rather at home a few days a week and the rest in the office, or vice versa. “he added.” But to get people to come back, I think safety and security are paramount. “

The companies that serve the workers – the bars, the restaurants, and even the retail outlets – also need people to come back.

“I think they understand that not everyone is, but when you think of bars and restaurants, they don’t just rely on the resident population,” said Gardner. “They rely on people to go out for lunch and happy hour and things like that. So it will be very important for them to at least have the feeling that the city is trying to improve the inner city so that people can return safely. “

In terms of pandemic recovery and the local economy, Washington state is doing pretty well, despite not being at the top, according to Gardner.

“[Washington is] still down nearly 170,000 jobs, ”he said. “However, if you look at other states in the west of the country, Idaho has restored all jobs lost to COVID-19. Utah did the same. So we are certainly not at the forefront. However, we have certain advantages, not just the companies that are here. We have a very talented workforce and many companies are very keen to be here. However, one of the biggest problems that I’ve been seeing for a few years and that will only grow is the affordability of housing. “

Put it this way – at some point companies looking to expand into Seattle will say, ‘Okay, there are a lot of smart people I can hire, check this box, but how much do I have to pay them?’ And the largest part of salaries is the cost of living, ”explained Gardner. “So I think we have to be very, very careful because at some point companies will say, ‘Well, I have to pay people how much just to be able to live?'”

If that happens, other markets like Spokane, Boise, or even Las Vegas might be more attractive as examples, Gardner says.

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But, as Dave points out, in this case we are a victim of our own success. If you have a successful economy, people want to live there, so property prices go up. That changes a little when you know that for some jobs you can work from anywhere.

“And I mentioned earlier that it’s not that we all work at home or all in the office. However, what I see, and not in all industries, and certainly not in all companies, is that they are moving or considering moving to a more hub-and-spoke model, ”said Gardner.

“What does that mean? That means they’ll keep the mothership, say, here in Seattle, but as they grow they’ll start sending spokes to other markets and building satellites,” he explained. “And I expect “Are companies growing organically? Yes they will. But are they necessarily going to grow in downtown Seattle? I would say some will think there are other ways to do this.”

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News from 5am to 9am on weekdays on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.