Amazon, go? How aging workers and the Seattle squeeze could drive a move to the Eastside

Amazon said this week that it will move thousands of jobs out of Seattle, across Lake Washington to Bellevue.

The company said it would start relocating its worldwide operations team this month and expects them to be all set up in Bellevue by 2023. KUOW’s Angela King discussed the news with Q13 political analyst C.R. Douglas and Joni Balter, host of “Civic cocktail” on the Seattle Channel.

Angela King: So why is Amazon moving jobs out of Seattle?

C.R. Douglas: In some ways they're following where their employees are. More and more of them live on the Eastside, and more and more of them will live in the Eastside. Let's remember that the workforce is aging as the company is. So this quintessential Amazon employee that's a 20-something millennial single, renting some high-priced apartment in South Lake Union, he or she is actually aging to the point where they're getting married, they're starting to have kids, they’re thinking about having a family. And that means buying a home, wanting a yard, and often that's only possible in places like the Eastside. So Amazon I don't think is running away from some Seattle business climate. I think they're recognizing where the demographics of their company is going.

Joni Balter: As with everything with Amazon, how this strikes me is it's not so much that they're almost predictably moving some of their growth within the region to the Eastside. Does it mean that Amazon is so mad at Seattle and its politicians? A little bit, it does mean that. There's a little bit of tension still here with Seattle over the Amazon tax that passed and then was retracted, probably a little burn left on that. With seven City Council positions up for grabs this year, they're not sure what to expect politically here. But does it mean that Bellevue is the new IT city and they no longer are willing to be part of Seattle? No. And does it mean that Bellevue is the secret HQ2? No again.

King: So here's how Mayor Jenny Durkan reacted to the news on KUOW: “You know the more jobs we have in the region and the more it's diversified the better it is for all of us. We've got a housing affordability crisis not just in Seattle but everywhere. And I think that talent begets talent. And so I think that it is a good thing for Seattle, a good thing for Bellevue. I'm glad light rail is going to be open because all those people are going to want to come into Seattle to go to good restaurants.” What do you guys think. Is this a good thing for Seattle?

Balter: I think she put her regionalist spin on this -- you don't want to be the mayor that's losing jobs. But it actually is a truth in some ways because Seattle cannot take all of Amazon's growth especially now that they're not going to New York. They don't have the room. So it's logical actually that some of this future expansion is going to be here in the Northwest but on the Eastside.

Douglas: Listen she spent the first two years of her term, exclusively almost, pushing back at all the explosive growth in the region and to the extent that Amazon gives her a little bit of a reprieve there. I think that's a relief for her.

King: One Amazon rep said Bellevue is “known for its business friendly environment.” So how will Bellevue be more friendly to Amazon than Seattle has been?

Balter: Well they could start with their City Council. You probably won't hear some of the things that you hear from our City Council, which has been pretty hostile sometimes, especially Councilmember Kshama Sawant. She lived down to expectations here. Upon the announcement that Amazon would be expanding in Bellevue, she said "capitulating to corporate bullies and billionaires never works." I mean, is there any more love to be found there?

Douglas: Well let me just say a thing about Sawant, however, which is that her biggest rallying cry has been the $15 minimum wage. Amazon not only accepted that, they have now embraced that. It is now company policy to pay $15 throughout their entire U.S. workforce as a minimum wage. So that's hardly rejecting Seattle's business climate. That's actually embracing Seattle's business climate.

Bellevue is not going to necessarily be cheaper for them. I mean yeah the business taxes are a little bit lower. But when you look at commercial rents, commercial real estate, it is higher than Seattle, at least comparable. And that is far and away exponentially a larger contributor to the bottom line than any head tax a city council might approve. So Bellevue is part of their future growth and their employment demographics in the region. It's not a cheaper move. It will not be less expensive, they’re not getting some big tax package like other cities have given them. They are going there because it's right for the company.