Friends,
I’ve been doing a lot of listening.
At my campaign kickoff in November, I spoke about specific strategies for creating new jobs in our state and released version 1.0 of my jobs white paper. I’ve held 14 small business roundtables throughout the state since then, to sit down with hundreds of entrepreneurs, business owners and workers.
Not surprisingly, they had a lot to say.
Washington remains one of the most expensive states in which to own and operate a business. It’s no wonder that the rate of unemployed and underemployed people in our state averaged over 17 percent throughout last year. That’s the number we feel in our neighborhoods and communities – and it’s devastating.
