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Media contacts: Bill Tarrow, Deputy Communications Director, 360-902-9376
                           Jamie Swift, Communications Manager, 360-902-0904

OLYMPIA – More than 32,000 Washington workers kept earning a paycheck in 2010, thanks to the Employment Security Department’s Shared-Work Program – that’s up from the record 22,000 saved jobs in 2009. 

“Shared Work has been a difference-maker for thousands of struggling businesses and workers in Washington,” said Employment Security Commissioner Paul Trause.  “More employers should take advantage of it to reduce costs and hang on to their skilled workers.”  

The Shared-Work Program allows employers to cut their payroll costs by reducing the hours of their full-time employees, while the workers collect partial unemployment benefits to make up for some of the lost wages.  The estimate of jobs saved last year through Shared Work comes from information on the employers’ original applications combined with their actual use of the program. 

A record 3,700 businesses and some 51,000 employees were approved to participate in the program in 2010, up from a previous high of 2,700 businesses in 2009. 

Employment Security paid out $35 million in shared-work benefits to participants in 2010.  The department would have paid an estimated $69 million more in unemployment benefits if the workers had been fully laid off and collected the state average of 20 weeks for regular unemployment benefits.

Both employers and workers alike have lauded the program.  In a 2010 survey of participating employers, 62 percent said the program had helped their business survive the recession and another 20 percent felt it probably had.  Also, 98 percent of participating employers would recommend the program to other businesses.  

“The Shared Work program has helped us retain our valued workers during these challenging economic times,” says Richard Gobble, human resource specialist with Huntwood Industries in Spokane. “Our employees have benefited greatly and it’s been easy to work with the Employment Security Department.”

In any given week, anywhere from a third to two-thirds of employees approved to participate in the program are actually drawing Shared-Work benefits. The program is designed to be flexible, so employers can add or reduce work hours based on their workload needs. 

Both public- and private-sector employers are eligible to participate in the program, and employers of all sizes are accepted. Benefits may be paid for up to 52 weeks, and as few as one employee can participate.  Only full-time, hourly workers who meet eligibility criteria are eligible for the program.

Information about the program is available online at www.esd.wa.gov, search on “shared work,” or by phone at 800-752-2500.

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Shared-Work hotline: 800-752-2500 

Broadcast version

Washington’s Employment Security Department says its Shared-Work Program helped to save a record thirty-two-thousand jobs last year.

Shared-Work is a layoff-avoidance program that allows employers to reduce the hours of their full-time hourly employees, while the workers collect partial unemployment benefits. 

A record 37-hundred businesses and some 51-thousand employees were approved to participate in the program in 2010. 

To learn more, visit esd.wa.gov.

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