Western Insights: Exploring the Labor Market | The Foundation for WWU & Alumni

Check out this video to watch the Western Insights: Exploring the Labor Market.

Brought to you by the College of Business and Economics
in partnership with the WWU Alumni Association

What is going on with the labor market? With nearly two open jobs for every job seeker, record unemployment, low workforce participation and recent news of layoffs it becomes difficult to know what is the good, bad and ugly of the entire situation.

The complexity of the labor market creates some layers of resiliency but also can lead to less desirable outcomes. In this episode of Western Insights, we bring together a panel of labor economists to explain what has happened and different possible scenarios in the months ahead.

Western Insights is an online panel series created to provide the broader region, Western alumni, friends, and students with access to information on current events drawing from the University's nationally respected experts. This series is offered entirely online and is open to everyone.

Watch previous Western Insight sessions online here.

Annelise Vance-Sherman

Speaker

Annelise Vance-Sherman has served as a regional labor economist with the Employment Security Department since February 2010. The region she covers extends from the Seattle Area to the Canada-US border. Annelise works closely with economic and workforce development partners throughout her region and statewide, providing local labor market intelligence to help inform strategic decision-making.

Scott Bailey

Speaker

Scott Bailey is the regional economist serving southwest Washington for the Washington Employment Security Department. For over thirty years, Scott has tracked employment, unemployment, industries, occupations and wages for five counties along the Columbia: from Klickitat in the east to Skamania, Clark, Cowlitz and Wahkiakum. Scott produces an annual wage trend analysis for the state, including the impact of the minimum wage, and has authored chapters for his department’s annual report to the legislature. He serves on the board of the Pacific Northwest Regional Economics Conference, and is an adjunct professor at Clark College. He was a trainer for the Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program. He started his career with the Oregon Economic Development Department. Scott has lived in Portland all his life, and recently served a four-year term on the Portland School Board.

Hart Hodges

Moderator

Dr. Hart Hodges is Co-Director of Western's Center for Economic and Business Research. He received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1994 from the University of Washington. He joined the faculty at Western in the Fall of 2000. His research interests include natural resource and environmental economics, health economics, and applied business economics. Hart is currently managing several research projects and public service efforts with an emphasis on economic development.

Questions and Accommodations

Contact James McCafferty for this event. Feel free to email at James.McCafferty@wwu.edu or call (360) 650-2414 if you have any questions or comments.

There will be auto-captions available for this event.