Business in brief: Spokane airport posts passenger increase
Spokane International Airport Thursday reported 148,245 passenger boardings in May, a 2 percent increase over May 2007.
Boardings this year have grown to 1.41 million, 6.6 percent more than in the first five months of 2007.
Freight movement declined 4 percent to 4,629 tons. Tonnage so far in 2008, at 22,588 tons, is up 1.5 percent over 2007.
Spokane
Potlatch Corp. names CEO of spinoff company
Spokane-based Potlatch Corp. said Thursday that Gordon L. Jones, 58, will serve as president and CEO of the proposed spinoff of the company’s pulp-based businesses.
The spinoff would create two standalone, publicly traded entities – a 1.7-million-acre timber operation in Idaho and three other states, and a manufacturing company that would include consumer products plants in Lewiston, Las Vegas, Elwood, Ill., and Cypress Bend, Ark. Those pulp-based businesses had revenues of about $1.2 billion in 2007.
Jones has more than 30 years of experience in the pulp and paper industry. He served as president, CEO and director for Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc. as well as executive positions with Smurfit-Stone.
Olympia
Health-care industry leads job vacancy list
More than one in five Washington job vacancies were in the health-care industry in April, the state Employment Security Department said Thursday.
An April survey found more than 16,000 health-care job openings out of an estimated 74,744 unfilled jobs statewide. Among them, 4,312 were for registered nurses, plus a lot of openings for licensed practical and vocational nurses, nursing aides, orderlies and attendants.
Retail sales ranked second in the number of job openings, with 2,803 vacancies, followed by food preparers and servers, with 2,262 vacancies, and cashiers, with 2,120 openings.
Washington
30-year mortgage rates continue to climb
Rates on 30-year mortgages rose again this week, climbing to the highest level in more than nine months, reflecting more concerns about how the Federal Reserve will respond to higher inflation pressures.
Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.45 percent this week. That was up from 6.42 percent last week. It was the highest level for 30-year mortgages since they averaged 6.46 percent for the week of Sept. 9, 2007.
Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 6.04 percent, up from 6.02 percent last week. The five-year adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 5.99 percent, up from 5.89 percent last week.
A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 6.67 percent, 15-year mortgage rates averaged 6.34 percent, five-year adjustable-rate mortgages were at 6.30 percent and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.65 percent.
From staff, wire reports