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Employment

MAJOR EMPLOYERS AND INDUSTRIES

Both diversification and economic restructuring have been the ongoing focus of Economic Development for Central Oregon, elected leaders, and the business community for the past decade and a half.  These efforts have proven largely successful in transforming the region's industry and employment from a 70-year reliance on the three legged stool of forest products, agriculture and the relatively recent visitor industry to one that has foundations in a variety of manufacturing, high technology, services, and specialty manufacturing. 

CENTRAL OREGON EMPLOYMENT BY SECTOR

For the past decade, Deschutes County has led Oregon in high technology growth (over 270%).  Numerous companies from the Silicon Valley, Portland-Vancouver Metro, and Puget Sound have relocated or expanded here - escaping skyrocketing costs, electricity shortages and tight labor markets.  Many of these firms are small but extremely innovative, producing niche-market products from semiconductors to software, medical instruments to recreational equipment.

 UNEMPLOYMENT

Central Oregon continues to outpace most other regions in the state in employment creation, including all the Willamette Valley metro areas.  In 2007, job growth slowed to about 2.5% -- cooling from the red hot growth years of 2004 and 2005 and returning to a pattern more consistent with 2002 and 2003. All private sectors of the economy, with the exception of manufacturing, have more jobs than in 2006. 
  
Given it's strong in-migration from high cost metro areas, California in particular, Central Oregon has historically had difficulties immediately absorbing newcomers into the job market, reflecting population growth outpacing job growth. Many of the newcomers lend their talents to the area's strong base of entrepreneurial activity. 

Despite current slower job growth, Central Oregon's unemployment rate remains low, with some businesses experiencing difficulties in finding the right individuals for open positions. 2007 unemployment rates are at low levels in Deschutes County (4.6% in August 2007), and are moderate levels in Crook County (5.8% in August) and Jefferson County (6.0% in August). 2007 unemployment rates are typically running about 0.5% higher than historic lows for the same time frame in 2006, reflecting the housing sluggishness and associated slowdown in construction and manufacturing sectors.  

For the past four years, unemployment in Deschutes County has performed well under the Oregon average, while Crook and Jefferson Counties, with a larger agricultural component, tend to track a little higher. This is a reversal of the trend from the '90s (see table below) when Central Oregon's unemployment was higher than Oregon's and the national average.

As Central Oregon's population continues to expand, employers will continue to find a larger labor pool of applicants vying for available jobs.  More importantly, because many of the “unemployed” have actually left previous employment elsewhere to move to the region, they have more work experience and generally higher skill levels in whichever sector they worked in the past. For more information, visit Oregon Employment Department   website, www.olmis.org.