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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 2002)
Unemployment rate increases The number of jobless citizens in Oregon increases 0.1 percent, which means 127,000 workers are without employment ByJanMontry Oregon Daily Emerald Oregon’s economy hit a cross roads last week, leaving many to question whether Oregon will re cover or dive deeper into econom ic downturn. The Oregon Employment Depart ment announced Friday that the unemployment rate increased 0.1 percent from a June rate of 7.2 per cent. That 0.1 percent represents 127,000 workers who were unem ployed in Oregon in July. Since January, Oregon’s economy has been a series of jumps and dives. In January and February of this year, the jobless rate peaked at 8.1 percent but started a steady de cline, ending at 7.2 percent in June. After three months of improve ment, a surprising jump in unem ployment prompted the question of whether the Oregon economy is ac tually improving. “I think our position is we’ve seen the worst, and we’re waiting our way out of it,” state economist Amy Vander Vliet said. This month, unemployment mainly affected the education sec tors while the manufacturing sector saw a continuing gain. In the private education sector, 3,700 jobs were cut, while the man ufacturing sector added 5,900 jobs. Both the amount of jobs cut and added were abnormally high for this time of year. For manufacturing, the jump in employment came as a surprise be cause Oregon’s economic decline last year mostly affected this indus try. In March, the number of em ployed manufacturing workers had decreased to 219,600, Oregon’s lowest level since January 1995. 7 think our position is we’ve seen the worst, and we’re waiting our way out of it. ” Amy Vander Vliet Oregon state economist Vliet attributed the manufacturing increase to a strong month in food processing and other sectors within manufacturing that added jobs. The extreme unemployment is prompting Sen. Ron Wyden, D Oregon, and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, to decry a recent U.S. Labor Department decision to re duce the “duration and effective ness” of a National Emergency Grant, which uses federal funds to retrain workers. The department recently re duced retraining time from 24 to nine months for Oregon NEG grantees, potentially hurting Ore gon’s ability to raise employment. Wyden spokeswoman Carol Guthrie said the longer workers can retrain, the better employment they may be able to get. “When the training period is cut to nine months, it limits employ ment opportunities,” Guthrie said. On Friday, the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis released a pre liminary state economic forecast predicting a 0.7 percent decrease in jobs this year and a 1.7 percent in crease next year, evidence that Ore gon is on the way to recovery with some bumps on tide road. OOEA economist Tom Po tiowsky said there will still be some periods of layoffs as well as hiring, even though the down town is improving. “We’re still calling for a bottom ing out of this recession now and an increase for next year,” he said. Contact the reporter at janmontry@dailyemerald.com. Analysts urge rate cut to fix economy By Ken Moritsugu Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) WASHINGTON — Most analysts don’t expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates when it meets Tuesday, despite the stock market’s recent slide and the growing risk of a return to recession. However, some on Wall Street are clamoring for a rate cut, including economists at Morgan Stanley, Gold man Sachs and Lehman Bros, in vestment banks. The fact that such financial powerhouses are even rais ing that possibility for the first time in months signals how much more uncertain the economic outlook has become in recent weeks. “The risks have gotten a lot worse,” said Bruce Kasman, an economist at J.P. Morgan Chase in New York. The Fed’s interest-rate-setting committee, led by Chairman Alan Greenspan, is scheduled to release its decision at 11:15 a.m. PDT. Separately Tuesday, President Bush will try to ease public concern about the economy at a conference on the topic he is convening in Waco, Texas. And on Wednesday, the nation’s top corporations must file statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission assur ing that their finances are honestly reported, a step analysts hope will calm shaken financial markets. July’s steep stock-market slide tripped up the economy, which had bounced back last winter after a mild recession. Factory production was flat in July and the economy added just 6,000 jobs, far fewer than needed for a healthy recovery. Even so, most forecasters don’t ex pect a so-called double-dip reces sion, in which the economy falls back into a period of shrinkage after a temporary uptick in growth. But the risks of a double dip have risen, and some analysts think the risks are high enough to merit a rate cut. “It seems to me it makes good sense to be pre-emptive at this point and take out some insurance just to get things going,” said Peter Hooper, chief economist in the New York office of Deutsche Bank. But other analysts are skeptical, noting that mortgage rates are at or near record lows, and housing and auto sales, among the most interest rate-sensitive areas, remain strong. “I don’t think lower rates at this point are going to make a whole lot of difference getting this economy out of a rut,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com, a con sulting firm in West Chester, Pa. © 2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. Autzen continued from page 1 employee. “I’m coming forward because ... I’m appalled that this is happen ing,” the source said. “It’s simply unethical to do a job this way.” The most severe of the alleged violations involves the joining of sprinkler pipes, Thrapp said. The anonymous letter said that “near ly 80 percent of the piping in stalled was not reamed” and that joint compounds were incorrectly applied. If those claims are true, Thrapp said particles could mix with the water, thus hindering the effective ness of the sprinkler system. Thrapp said Cosco will be re quired to make changes in accor dance with national standards if any of the allegations are found to be truthful. The.source also said that while the pipes were supposed to be hung from concrete decking, the contrac tor didn’t pour concrete. Eugene plan review supervisor Steve McGuire said if it is found that concrete should have been poured, “it isn’t hard to remedy. Builders may just need to add support.” The project will be turned over to engineers to design a solution if in spectors find discrepancies with the original plans, McGuire said. Balzhiser & Hubbard Engineers, the primary designers for the project, declined to comment. Cosco Vice President Dave Kem, who visited the site Friday, said the company believes all work was done properly. In Eugene to monitor the progress of the installation Friday morning, Kem was on his way back to Seattle when he first became aware of the allegations. “Possibly, . there’s something there that we might have to do some minor corrective work,” Kem said. “That’s why we have to do a very thorough investigation. “If there is a problem, they can rest assured it will be corrected.” John Norton, Hunt-Wildish Joint Venture’s project administra tor for the Autzen Stadium expan sion, declined to comment on the allegations. For the past eight months, con struction crews have been frantical ly working in hopes of reopening Autzen Stadium by the season opener. The $90 million project will add about 12,000 seats, push ing the stadium’s capacity to be tween 54,000 and 55,000. Contact the sports editor at bradschmidt@dailyemerald.com and the managing editor at jennischultz@dailyemerald.com. Editor in chief Michael J. Kleckner contributed to this report. 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