Economics
There’s a Program That Can Save Thousands of Jobs, If Businesses Use It
- Supported almost 50,000 Washington state jobs during recession
- Federal stimulus bill includes $100 million for new programs
This article is for subscribers only.
Unemployment is surging amid a nationwide avalanche of layoffs in the U.S., but there’s a way companies can keep their employees.
Smith Gardens, a flower and plant grower in Washington state, has used the state’s short-time compensation, or shared-work, program to help it retain trained staff members during the ebbs and flows of seasonal labor needs. SharedWork has been in existence for decades in the state but the arrangement -- and others like it -- offer a potential model for others to adopt to soften the economic blow of the coronavirus.