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Jackson County jobless rate drops By GREG STILES Jackson County continues to hold its own economically, at least for the time being, according to the latest data from the Oregon Employment Department. State Employment Department figures for August show the county's unemployment dropped to 5.7 percent after reaching 6.4 percent last month. "We're still adding jobs and we've diversified," said Guy Tauer, a state job market analyst working in Medford. "And our population growth has helped this to be a resilient economy. But undoubtedly it's been worse after Sept. 11 than before." Jackson County retail jobs have held steady, growing by 4.5 percent (830 jobs) for the year, countering a year-to-date decline in durable electronic goods, which were down 15 percent (580 jobs), and timber products, down 7 percent (280 jobs). Josephine County's August unemployment figure was 7.7 percent, compared to 7.9 percent in July and 6.3 percent a year earlier. Although employment figures show economic vitality in the area, employment agencies have noted that folks with jobs are more likely to stay put in uncertain economic times than during a boom. J. J. Moon, owner of A First Choice Staffing Services, said although there is a continued demand for medical office workers, other areas have leveled off. Office workers aren't necessarily looking around for a better deal like they were two years ago. "From about 1995 to the last couple of years, people were looking for higher wages and when jobs became available they switched," Moon said. "Lately, there's been a scarcity of positions and people are not leaving. They're sitting where they are." Matching desired jobs to openings isn't always easy. Nonetheless, there are plenty of openings. Derek Jensen of Cardinal Employment Services' Medford Center office said his company has had a sustained demand for construction workers. "Construction took a big jump in August and it's been fine in September," he said. "General labor, carpentry, demolition, that type of stuff, has actually grown more in September." While the Rogue Valley lagged behind Portland's boom times during much of the 1990s, it has yet to suffer through that metropolitan area's millennium malaise. "Part of the reason is that there was such high tech surge and huge growth in transportation manufacturing in Portland during the 1990s," Tauer said. "When they were adding economically, we didn't have the huge growth spurt. Now, they're hit hard by layoffs and since we didn't go through as much of a boom cycle, we're not going through as much of a bust cycle." In August 2000, the Portland area had an unemployment rate of 4 percent, with 43,300 job seekers out of work. Last month, the there were 63,000 metropolitan workers off the job, boosting the figure to 5.8 percent. Oregon's overall unemployment rate has jumped to seasonally-adjusted 6.3 percent from 4.9 percent in 2000. "Ours has gone up a little bit," Tauer said, "but it hasn't shot up as much as the state average, which is very much influenced by the Portland market." Tauer said the fall-off in air travel could generate more tourist dollars for communities along the Interstate 5 corridor. "The positive may be that instead of flying, people might drive up from San Francisco or down from Portland, rather than fly to Las Vegas," Tauer said. "We're not like Florida or California, where they depend so much on plane traffic for their tourism." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.