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SEATTLE CREATES NEW JOBS

Kemper Development’s Lincoln Square project is going up just as Washington state’s economy is taking off. The area saw tough times after the technology bust of the late 1990s, but these days local companies such as Microsoft, Amazon.com and Starbucks are reaping big profits — and doing a lot of hiring. An estimated 85,000 jobs were created in the state in the past year — an increase of 3.1 percent, compared with national job growth of 1.7 percent over the same period, according to state officials.

The lure of jobs is bringing people from around the U.S. Washington’s population is expected to grow by more than 100,000 per year through the end of the decade, reaching 6.8 million by 2010, the Office of Financial Management said in November. The office says the increase was due to Washington’s improving economy. Two years ago, when the state economy started to improve after the tech bust, 22,000 more people moved into Washington than out. The number of those moving to the state more than doubled to 50,600 this year and is expected to rise to about 80,000 next year.