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Census: Washington only state outside South with falling income By REBECCA COOK The Associated Press 9/25/01 8:14 PM OLYMPIA, WA (AP) -- Household income has dropped in three states, according to a new survey: Alabama, Louisiana ... and Washington? That's right. A census survey says Washington household income experienced the biggest decline in the nation between 1998 and 2000. Households in Washington lost 8.2 percent of their income from 1998 to 2000, the survey found. Alabama had a 6.8 percent decrease and Louisiana income dropped by 4.9 percent. "That's some tough company to keep," said William Dillingham, senior economist for the state Employment Security department. Experts offered several theories to explain Washington's poor showing: it's the tech economy; it's the manufacturing economy; it's a mystery. Dillingham said the bursting of the technology stock bubble let the air out of Washington's household income. "That's the downside of such a remarkable half-decade," Dillingham said Tuesday. Exercised stock options boosted some workers' income, he said -- until the stock market took a dive. He compared it to a tidal wave of wages surging onto our shores: "That tsunami of wages was stock options. Now we're back to normal tidal action." The average Washington household had an income of $42,024 in 2000 -- still on par with the national average of $42,168. Alabama's average was $33,105 and Louisiana was way down on the list with $30,219. Other experts said the Washington data tell the story of the quiet downsizing that's been happening behind the technology boom. "Reduced manufacturing employment appears to be behind the drop in median income," said Christopher Haugen, policy analyst with the University of Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. Boeing made headlines last week with its plans to cut as many as 30,000 jobs in its commercial airplane division, after the aviation industry was staggered by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But the work force has been shrinking all along, Haugen notes: Boeing has cut 20,000 jobs since 1997. The poverty rate for Washington residents remained nearly steady from 1998 to 2000, rising only .4 percent to 9.7 percent. That means it's not the poor who are losing income. "It appears that middle-income families were not doing as well as we thought," Haugen said. Chief state economist Chang Mook Sohn was uncharacteristically perplexed by the census survey numbers. He said neither the stock market bust nor manufacturing layoffs could completely explain the apparent drop in household income. He said he suspects the initial Washington income figures were artificially inflated, and he plans to investigate the Census Bureau's methodology. "I don't know how to explain," Sohn said.
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