On September 9, Mayor Katie Wilson signed an executive order on economic resilience and the Seattle Office of Economic Development released Seawall: Building a Resilient Seattle Economy, an independent assessment the office commissioned from the economic strategy firm Formation in 2025. The City states that the report’s findings and recommendations are independent and are not City policy, and that the assessment is intended as a shared foundation for sector leaders, policymakers and labor leaders developing long-term strategy.
The assessment finds that Seattle’s growth over the past decade delivered broad wage gains but left the economy concentrated in a small number of large employers. Firms with 100 or more employees accounted for 74.5 percent of net job growth in the Seattle metro between 2014 and 2023, compared with 68.5 percent nationally. Mid-sized firms accounted for 16.6 percent, below the national rate of 22.7 percent and below every peer region measured, including San Diego at 32.9 percent and Austin at 28.5 percent. The report also documents rising costs for families and businesses, including energy, noting Seattle City Light’s projected need for 1,825 MW of new generation and storage capacity by 2033 against a projection of 400 MW made two years earlier.