A profitable Kennewick technology business is being closed by its parent as part of a global reorganization blamed on the pandemic.Bruker Inc. is merging Bruker’s Nano Handheld-Mobile Portable XRF unit, which employs about 50, with a sister company in Berlin and closing the office at the end of December. It...
L&I proposes 6% hike for contractor feesThe Washington State Department of Labor & Industries is considering raising the fee to register, renew or be reinstated as a contractor by 5.79% for 2022.L&I is required to charge a fee and to revise the fees at least once every two years. The...
More than a year-and-a-half into the pandemic, it’s clear that Washington manufacturers are contending with two issues that appear likely to remain with us for some time: supply chain disruption and a growing labor shortage.Those two issues came up at nearly every stop during the Association of Washington Business’ annual...
“Corporation, n., an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.”–Ambrose Bierce, the Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Regrettably, Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) were not included in Ambrose Bierce’s popular quote from 1910 because LLCs didn’t exist in most states until the 1990s.Still, the quote applies to LLCs in the same...
Washington Policy CenterGovernment Reform DirectorJason MercierWhat is the Washington Policy Center?Washington Policy Center (WPC) is an independent, nonprofit think tank that promotes sound public policy based on free-market solutions.WPC improves lives of Washington state’s citizens by providing accurate, high-quality research for policymakers, the media and the general public. Headquartered in...
Tri-City retailers are staffing up for the holiday shopping season even as customers head online because of the pandemic.U.S. shoppers will spend more than $189 billion online during the holiday season, a 33% increase that represents two years’ worth of typical growth, according to the Adobe Analytics Holiday Forecast 2020.The...
Local manufacturing businesses and jobs have experienced a resurgence in recent years that needs to continue for our state’s livelihood and connection to the global economy.Before the pandemic, the manufacturing sector employed 11.6 million workers in the United States. During the past three years, about 500,000 manufacturing jobs were added...
One goal for employers is to hire and then incentivize the brightest talent available to remain with the employer and grow the business over time. So, what are the components of a compelling compensation package that keeps the prized executive employee with the company?The most recognizable component of the executive’s...
The Covid-19 pandemic has shed light on the many holes in America’s social safety net — workers in fields deemed “nonessential” are struggling to make ends meet across Eastern Washington. Many of those deemed essential find themselves in harm’s way.Fortunately, there is one resource that working families in the Tri-Cities...
I have often said that small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and that could not be truer in Central Washington’s rural communities.The owners and employees of Main Street businesses are integral to the well-being of our communities, and the support for small businesses I have witnessed during my...
