Is Seattles job market starting to crash slowly? (rent, school)

[JasonJYoung]

I work and know many in the Supply Chain Industry......This isn't getting much play, but something ALARMING is occurring in the industry:

Oceanic Freight (ie, shipping containers/cargo, commerce, etc) has literally STOPPED!!!!!! To clarify, this applies only to shipments traveling across the Atlantic Ocean.

Apparently, shipments across Asia have slowed but are still moving across the Pacific. Thus, I doubt the West Coast ports are feeling the effects of Eurepeon shipments too much at this stage.

Folks, this is scary news and I too am starting to worry if true. I'd suggest keeping a close eye on Boeing and Amazon (amongst many others) in the Seattle region that utilizes over-seas freight. Yes, many companies have back-up stock/inventory, but for how long?

I'm curious if anyone could please comment on freight movement in the Seattle & Tacoma ports? There seems to be differing reports of how accurate this news is.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by JasonJYoung

I work and know many in the Supply Chain Industry......This isn't getting much play, but something ALARMING is occurring in the industry:

Oceanic Freight (ie, shipping containers/cargo, commerce, etc) has literally STOPPED!!!!!! To clarify, this applies only to shipments traveling across the Atlantic Ocean.

Apparently, shipments across Asia have slowed but are still moving across the Pacific. Thus, I doubt the West Coast ports are feeling the effects of Eurepeon shipments too much at this stage.

Folks, this is scary news and I too am starting to worry if true. I'd suggest keeping a close eye on Boeing and Amazon (amongst many others) in the Seattle region that utilizes over-seas freight. Yes, many companies have back-up stock/inventory, but for how long?

I'm curious if anyone could please comment on freight movement in the Seattle & Tacoma ports? There seems to be differing reports of how accurate this news is.

With the new NW Seaport Alliance (Seattle and Tacoma) the 2015 container total was 3.5 million TEUs, up 4% from 2014. This is despite the long work slowdown/stoppages due to the labor issues Work is starting to prepare for the docking of the new mega-ships in the near future. No one can guess what the near future holds, but for now it's looking good.

Northwest US ports continue to make volume gains | JOC.com

[JasonJYoung]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

With the new NW Seaport Alliance (Seattle and Tacoma) the 2015 container total was 3.5 million TEUs, up 4% from 2014. This is despite the long work slowdown/stoppages due to the labor issues Work is starting to prepare for the docking of the new mega-ships in the near future. No one can guess what the near future holds, but for now it's looking good.

Northwest US ports continue to make volume gains | JOC.com

Thanks for info Hemlock. The shipping industry in the Pacific NW sure is different than what I'm used to in the Midwest, where everything revolves around rail and truck traffic.

BTW, the Panama Canal expansion will hopefully feed some of these mega ships up the coastline and provide additional good paying port jobs in Seattle/Tacoma. In turn, this should also create additional jobs throughout the area also.

[Sockeye66]

Didn't read all the postings but can share this:
Feb 2015 posted a job for an accounting asst. position and had a hundred resumes come in, posted virtually the same job Oct. 2016 and had less than half the applicants.

[thedonwind]

Originally Posted by annonymous0381

In early January 2016 my job was laying off all half of its workforce. Unfortunately I was included in that 50%. Lucky enough for me I have enough savings to eat, pay my rent and even buy a condo. My apartment lease is up in July 2016 and I have enough savings to get me through.


For the past month I have been applying for jobs online and getting no interviews. Even minimum wage grocery store jobs and minimum wage retail jobs aren't hiring in Seattle currently. When I moved to Seattle from Los Angeles in July 2015 I was offered 4 salaried jobs within a week of arriving in Seattle.

Is it just me or is the economy in Seattle slowing down?

In my jewish singles social group 3 people who I know lost their jobs this January and had to move back in with their parents in the Seattle area.


Will Seattles job market improve in the next few months?

Dang brother I'm sorry to hear that. I moved from LA around the same time you did.


Keep your head up. You will be fine. Seattle's job market is still good. Just keep going at it. It's only been 1 month so far, just remember that. Also remember that these lay-offs usually occur with big companies and it doesn't necessarily mean the economy is bad but just means that they want to restructure and boot out people and bring new ones in. Why? It's beyond me, but from what you say it doesn't sound like it was personal to you or that you did anything wrong.


Just brush it off and keep punching forward.

[Legacy Bear]

Originally Posted by Sockeye66

Didn't read all the postings but can share this:
Feb 2015 posted a job for an accounting asst. position and had a hundred resumes come in, posted virtually the same job Oct. 2016 and had less than half the applicants.

you mean in the same year? you are saying, less applications?

[glwillia]

Originally Posted by thedonwind

Dang brother I'm sorry to hear that. I moved from LA around the same time you did.


Keep your head up. You will be fine. Seattle's job market is still good. Just keep going at it. It's only been 1 month so far, just remember that. Also remember that these lay-offs usually occur with big companies and it doesn't necessarily mean the economy is bad but just means that they want to restructure and boot out people and bring new ones in. Why? It's beyond me, but from what you say it doesn't sound like it was personal to you or that you did anything wrong.


Just brush it off and keep punching forward.

Microsoft's having big layoffs, mostly due to their ill-fated Nokia acquisition. I certainly haven't noticed any slowdown in the job market.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by glwillia

Microsoft's having big layoffs, mostly due to their ill-fated Nokia acquisition. I certainly haven't noticed any slowdown in the job market.

MS often has layoffs, but then hires more people to do different work, as they change direction.

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/b...ound-jobs.html

[jm31828]

No slowdown I have seen. Where I work we are in need of a first level helpdesk tech, and we have had a heck of a time finding anyone- we get applicants, but by the time we get through the process of interviewing several people and getting back to the one we like, he/she already has a couple other offers to choose between. An IT services company I used to work for has had such a hard time finding people to fill spots at all levels (from lowest level helpdesk to high level IT engineers) that they have had to recruit far outside of the Seattle metro area, even to other states.

[TrustInSal]

Originally Posted by annonymous0381

In early January 2016 my job was laying off all half of its workforce. Unfortunately I was included in that 50%. Lucky enough for me I have enough savings to eat, pay my rent and even buy a condo. My apartment lease is up in July 2016 and I have enough savings to get me through.


For the past month I have been applying for jobs online and getting no interviews. Even minimum wage grocery store jobs and minimum wage retail jobs aren't hiring in Seattle currently. When I moved to Seattle from Los Angeles in July 2015 I was offered 4 salaried jobs within a week of arriving in Seattle.

Is it just me or is the economy in Seattle slowing down?

In my jewish singles social group 3 people who I know lost their jobs this January and had to move back in with their parents in the Seattle area.


Will Seattles job market improve in the next few months?

Uhhhh, slowly crashing? You just moved to Seattle LAST year, actually it hasnt even been a full year yet!

If anything you should be asking if it just PLUMMETED. Also this means you were new to your job. This happens aaaalllll the time in cities with economies like Seattle. Unfortunately if you havent been with them a while usually they scrape you when you dont have the experience(or you "served your purpose"...). Unless its truly drastic.

Also take into account the time of year. July during the summer when everyone is in chill mode vs now when students are back in school.. people back in work etc etc the amount of people ALSO looking for work is way different.

But in all honesty this is almost a simple question to me given the time frame, short amount of time you worked and stuff. But Id surely say no... I think its mainly the point in time. All you gotta do is look at what situation you were in, how long ago, compared to now. Barely any difference. So just keep at it and hope it is just the point in time youre looking for work. Which Im confident it is... in which case the worst case scenario is you wont be landing a job till the Summer.

Or you know... just bad luck bro.

Be grateful you were smart enough to save up saving. You could be on the streets... and in Seattle thats not fun. Props to you for that.