When the dot-com market’s over-caffeinated growth imploded in 2002, the Seattle economy was left with vacant office buildings and crowds of unemployed techies lounging around its famed coffee shops. That wasn’t a pretty economic picture for the Emerald City’s electrical distributors and reps.

It’s a different scene today, as several Fortune 500 companies that call Seattle home have led the area’s economy to a new era of prosperity. Blue-chip companies such as Starbucks, Amazon.com and Microsoft have been pouring millions of dollars into Seattle’s economy. The lumber, pulp and paper industries are also some of the largest employers in the region, but they haven’t enjoyed the same rate of growth as these other large companies. Led by Boeing, the aviation industry is also a large employer. According to local sources, it is still hiring now, but has scaled back manufacturing operations compared to years past. Seattle suffered from layoffs at Boeing a few years ago when the company moved its headquarters to Chicago, but the company still has production operations in the area. Boeing is busy right now with its new 787, dubbed the “Dreamliner.”

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Thank-you from the staff of Electrical Marketing.