By Mayor Mike McGinn

Many cities are struggling in the aftermath of the recession to keep the jobs they still have and attract new ones. We're still recovering from the job losses suffered during the recession from 2007 to 2009. Seattle lost 35,000 jobs during that recession. Since June 2009, when the recession technically ended, about 10,000 new jobs have been created. But we have a lot of work ahead to rebuild shared prosperity and provide everyone with a good job that pays a decent wage. By improving education and investing in our infrastructure we can support innovation here in Seattle. That’s essential if we’re going to compete for jobs in the global economy.

We have seen signs of life in local construction. Permit applications for new buildings are up. For the first time in a while, private capital is coming off the sidelines in Seattle to invest in new apartment and office buildings. 85% of the new apartment construction in King and Snohomish Counties is here in Seattle.

The pace of job creation is picking up too. Over 600 new jobs have been created or announced in the last two weeks here in Seattle. Seattle’s competitive advantages such as a skilled workforce, a diverse economic base, and vibrant places with arts, culture, nightlife and active streets are giving us an edge.

Tech firm EMC Isilon announced last week that they would be establishing new offices in Pioneer Square and adding 200 new jobs to their growing enterprise. All of the office space at 505 First Avenue South will be filled with 200 new employees over the next fifteen months. Isilon founder Sujal Patel said that Pioneer Square is “a base of innovation and of startups within the community, it’s a vibrant area that’s undergoing a revitalization, and it’s an area with a lot of life and activity. Pioneer Square has an ideal mix of space availability, great neighborhood, accessibility with respect to transportation options. It really formed the ideal base for us to plant a flag for many, many years to come.”

That same mix is what convinced Brooks Sports to move their headquarters from Bothell to Fremont. The move will bring 300 new jobs to Seattle and provide a new influx of shoppers and diners to local businesses in Fremont and Wallingford. Brooks Sports and Skanska USA will construct a new building at 34th and Stone Way that will be a leader in green, energy efficient construction.

Some of our prominent local companies are expanding their operations here in Seattle. Last week Microsoft opened a new retail store at the University Village. The new store created 60 new jobs.

Seattle's Corbis Images is bringing 67 jobs to the city by moving its Veer microstock images operations here from Canada. The move involves closing Veer's Calgary, Alberta, office at the end of the year.

We are also laying the foundations of whole new industries, adding good manufacturing jobs to our local economy. I recently announced that the vehicles for the new First Hill Streetcar will be assembled here in Seattle by local company Pacifica, in partnership with Czech manufacturer Inekon. An estimated 20 new high-wage union manufacturing jobs will result from this contract alone. That’s just the start. Cities across America are planning or building new streetcar lines, and Inekon-Pacifica are bidding on several of them. That creates an opportunity for more to vehicles to be assembled here, and more of the basic manufacturing could happen in Seattle as well.

These 600 new jobs are important to our economic recovery. But there’s still a long way to go, and the jobs won’t come if we sit on our hands. We've need to invest in improving education so that every child in Seattle is ready to succeed in the global economy. We need to invest in the next-generation infrastructure such as broadband so that tech companies like EMC Isilon have the tools they need to continue adding jobs. We need to invest in transit so that Seattle remains an attractive place for jobs. Cities that invest in education and transit are those that will take their place as leaders in the global economy. I believe Seattle should lead the way.