Wage Series Part 8: Does Assessed Valuation Matter?

By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer

In the last issue we discussed whether – and to what extent — population influenced a jurisdiction’s relative wage ranking. In this article we discuss to what extent assessed valuation influences that ranking. [Read more…]

Wage Series Part 7: Does Size Matter?

By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer

In the last three parts of the Wage Series, we have discussed State wage rankings for the various public safety classifications.  In the next three parts, we turn to a discussion of what factors might influence, or explain, at least in part, those wage rankings. [Read more…]

Wage Series Part 6: Dispatcher and Records Clerk Wages

By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer

This is part six of our continued series on Washington Public Safety Employee wages.  In this issue, we report on wage rankings for 911  Dispatchers and Police Records Clerks.

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Wage Series Part 5: Firefighter and Corrections Rankings

By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer

This is part five of our eleven-part Spring 2013 Wage Series. In our last article, we covered Commissioned Deputy and Police Officer Wages.  In this article, we turn to Firefighter and Corrections Officer Wages.  We’ll cover Dispatcher and Records Clerk Wages in the next article. 

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Wage Series Part 4: How Do Your Wages Stack Up: Statewide Commissioned City and County Wage Rankings

By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer

In Part 4 of our on-going Wage Series, we now turn to the rankings of County, Deputy and City Police Officer rankings throughout the State. This series always produces both expected and unexpected information about the relative standing of jurisdictions.

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Wage Series Part 3: Current Economic Conditions — Improving but Not Robust

By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer

This is the third article in our eleven-part series reporting on contract settlement trends.  This article highlights some of the recent economic developments most likely to impact your negotiations outlook. 

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Wage Series Part 2: Recent Wage Settlement Trends in Washington Public Safety Labor Contracts — a Rising, but Not Robust Trend Line

By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer

This is the second article in our eleven-part, Spring 2013 Wage Series. In this article, we take a look at recent contract settlements and examine how those trends vary from recent previous years. Our view of 2012 settlements and what we have so far from 2013, indicates a trend towards rising settlements, but not a full return to the robust, pre Great Recession settlements. Whether a healthy economy will accelerate these trends further, is something we’ll discuss later in this series.

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Wage Series Part 1: Latest CPI Shows Seattle and All Cities CPI Converge

 By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer

This is the first of an eleven-part series addressing current economic conditions and wage settlement trends.  In this Spring 2013 Wage Series, we’ll bring you an update on CPI and economic developments, wage settlements, interest arbitration trends, statewide wage rankings for public safety classifications across the State, and an in-depth analysis of what factors appear to be impacting those rankings and settlements.

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