Because of the COVID-19 crisis, 47% of adults say their households have lost employment income and close to 40% have delayed getting medical care, according to early results of a Census Bureau survey.Read More
Though its stores remained open, Target saw its online sales jump 141% in the past three months, with 5 million shopping on the retailer chain's website for the first time. Read More
Lawmakers squabbled over how quickly the economy can rebound from the coronavirus shutdown and whether the government is doing enough to support struggling families and businesses.Read More
Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday said that 10 additional counties are eligible to apply to loosen some social distancing restrictions in place to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.Read More
Governors around the country have begun slowly allowing stores, restaurants and malls to serve customers again. But it won't count for much if people are afraid to venture out again.Read More
Retail sales saw record drops for the second month in a row. Other categories with huge declines included a 59% dive in furniture sales and 29% decreases in department stores and gas stations.Read More
The latest inflation data offers a snapshot of Americans' new pandemic spending habits. Prices are down for most goods and services but up sharply for groceries.Read More
U.S. employers shed a record number of jobs in April, as the unemployment rate climbed to the highest since the Great Depression. The coronavirus crisis has locked down much of the economy.Read More
Tenino, a small town in Thurston County, Washington, has approved a plan to print its own money on strips of wood. Again. It’s a response to the COVID-19 crisis that’s modeled after how the town responded to a prior crisis — the Great Depression.Read More
Washington's 'stay home' order will extend until at least May 31. On Friday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced the new time frame and that businesses will be able to open over four phases.Read More
Some states are moving forward, but many would be wise to wait, according to experts at the University of Washington. Here's their estimate for each state's safe date to reopen.Read More
The biggest item in the $484 billion measure is roughly $321 billion in additional funding for a small-business loan program. President Trump signed the legislation on Friday. Read More
Idaho Gov. Brad Little has announced a four-stage plan for re-opening the state’s businesses and communities after closures due to the coronavirus. The first stage is scheduled to take effect May 1.Read More
More than 20 states designated marijuana businesses essential during the coronavirus shutdown. Cannabis activists say it's a remarkable development, given that it remains illegal under federal law. Read More
Fresh numbers of initial claims for jobless benefits showed some moderation in the past week in the staggering wave of layoffs across the Northwest caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But the level of unemployment claims continues to hover at record levels, as reported Thursday by the state labor and employment departments of Washington, Idaho and Oregon.Read More
The number of people filing for unemployment climbed by another 5.2 million, as the toll of the nation's economic dive continues to mount. In the past four weeks, 22 million have filed claims.Read More
The COVID-19 pandemic is taking a terrible toll on the world's economy, with lockdown measures now affecting the livelihood of almost 2.7 billion workers, according to a new report.Read More
As coronavirus pandemic shutters small businesses across the Northwest, business owners are bracing for a wave of insurance denials. That’s because insurers have been telling businesses that coronavirus losses don’t count.Read More
This time frame is longer than the estimate that Treasury Secretary Mnuchin gave when he negotiated the program for cash payments with congressional leaders. Read More
Under the plan, single people earning incomes below $75,000 will receive as much as $1,200. The White House says it will issue funds in three weeks but experts say it could take months for some.Read More
Gov. Jay Inslee says people should prepare to stay home beyond the initial April 6 order, as officials work to flatten the COVID-19 curve.Read More
Like many decades-old businesses, Yakima and Seattle-based PaintSmith has had experience with layoffs. After the 2008 recession, the company went from 80 employees to just 10. It taught Smith that his company can survive financial downturns. Read More
Mirroring the national trend, Washington, Idaho and Oregon are experiencing an unprecedented spike in unemployment claims caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.Read More
Avoid layoffs at any cost. Set up emergency financing for states and cities to help health systems. Cut regulations to speed medical response. Those are some recommendations from leading economists.Read More
Forecasters say the government's aggressive efforts to curtail the spread of the virus will trigger the sharpest slowdown on record. Some see the economy shrinking a staggering 24%.Read More
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 10% — its biggest one-day drop since 1987 — as the coronavirus pandemic continued to rattle markets. Trading was temporarily halted earlier in the day.Read More
New York Stock Exchange trading was halted temporarily after indexes plunged 7% in reaction to Saudi Arabia's oil price cut amid increasing fears over the coronavirus epidemic's economic impact.Read More
Washington lawmakers are tackling a variety of weighty issues this year from homelessness to prescription drug pricing to transportation funding to …. the legality of kids’ lemonade stands. That’s right, lemonade stands are on the agenda for the 2020 legislative session in Olympia.Read More
Casper changed mattress shopping with the promise of a 100-night "risk-free" trial and easy returns. Now the cost of those returns is being scrutinized as the online company prepares to go public. Read More
In the last few decades, many high-paying jobs that are mostly done by men – like manufacturing – have contracted or disappeared. At the same time, many jobs in fields dominated by women – like education and health care – have significantly increased.Read More
In this season of holiday shopping, now is about the time when many of us get stuck and don't know what to get for someone on our gift list. There are at least three Pacific Northwest companies who may come to your rescue with ideas for unconventional presents. A hint: they involve used dolls, a precious, exotic spice and a different kind of gift card.Read More
Since August 2018, NPR has been tracking about 80 items sold at a Georgia Walmart with an eye toward products caught in the trade war. On average, prices rose 3%. Tariffs are one of many factors.Read More
World stock markets saw sharp sell-offs after China let its currency slide, the latest move in its trade war with the United States. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 767 points, or 2.9%.Read More
Boeing's CEO says the company will consider temporarily shutting down production of the 737 Max if the plane's return is significantly delayed beyond the company's October forecast.Read More
On July 1, Washington stopped letting Oregon shoppers skip paying sales tax at the register, with a few exceptions. Some businesses in southwestern Washington fear the change will drive away Oregon customers who won’t want to cross the river to shop when there is no sales tax at home.Read More
A sweeping proposal by the state Department of Labor and Industries could grant overtime pay to thousands more workers in Washington. Currently, workers are guaranteed overtime pay if their salary is under $24,000 a year. The proposal would gradually raise that threshold to about $80,000 by 2026.Read More
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative published a list of Chinese goods that would be hit with new duties, from artists' brushes to watches.Read More
Growers in Washington, California and Michigan raise the majority of the nation’s domestic asparagus -- and Washington’s season is on. But business in U.S. spears is noticeably dwindling due to cheaper competition from foreign markets. That’s because there’s increasing amounts of cheaper asparagus from Peru and Mexico coming in: fresh, canned and frozen. And that’s Read More
Business idea boot camps around the Palouse help entrepreneurs build their businesses from the ground up. Read More
Pullman has two different ways of dealing with business vacancies, but both are to help invite new business ideas into the community.Read More
Construction begins soon in eastern Oregon for the first commercial-scale "torrefaction" facility in the country. If you don't know what that word means, you're in good company. But the process itself isn't all that exotic. Think of how your coffee beans get crispy.Read More
Some winemakers are calling it the “beerification” of wine. Many Northwest winemakers are trying to make wine a little less fussy by putting it in aluminum cans.Read More
In a bid to stay afloat, the company that has outfitted many of the world's top musicians says that in its turnaround effort, it will focus on making guitars, Read More
If Gov. Kate Brown follows through on a plan to call Oregon’s Legislature into a special session in the coming months, she might wind up giving a tax break to a sliver of the businesses she’s pledged to target.Read More
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said they served audit notices Wednesday at nearly 100 7-Eleven convenience stores nationwide, including stores in Oregon, Washington and California.Read More
