Tag Archives: recession

Kitsap businesses enjoyed record-setting fourth quarter sales

The fourth quarter of 2014 was kind to Kitsap County retailers.

Taxable sales across all industries in Kitsap were up 4.26 percent in October, November and December of 2014, compared with the same months of 2013.

Retail trade sales (sales made by traditional stores, dealerships, etc.) were up 5.56 percent, according to numbers released Monday by the state Department of Revenue.

Retailers posting the largest revenue gains in 2014 included auto dealers, drug stores, building material sellers, home furnishing stores and e-commerce enterprises.

More impressive than the year-over-year gains, sales in the fourth quarter of 2014 actually topped pre-recession highs:

With the fourth quarter numbers in the books, we can see how 2014 stacked up against previous retail years. While retail trade sales have rebounded from the recession, other industries are still catching up:

Kitsap poverty rate is low but rising

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Nearly six hundred more Kitsap residents were living in poverty last year than in 2012.

And while the county’s poverty rate is low compared with other areas, it continues to rise.

An estimated 27,727, or 11.3 percent of Kitsap residents, were living below poverty levels in 2013, according to numbers released this week by the U.S. Cenus Bureau. By comparison, the Census estimated 8.5 percent of the Kitsap population, or 20,400 residents, were living in poverty in 2006.

The state poverty rate rose to 14.1 percent in 2013, with an additional 50,000 Washingtonians falling below poverty levels. The U.S. poverty rate remained flat at 15.8 percent.

According to the University of Washington’s West Coast Poverty Center, the continued rise of poverty rates, coupled with a widening income gap, suggest economic gains have yet to benefit many low-income residents.

“The poverty rate is an indicator of how well the most vulnerable do in our economy,” West Coast Poverty Center Director Jennifer Romich said in a statement. “The overall national picture suggests that economic growth is failing to reach everyone.”

See the center’s full analysis here.