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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 2017)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JULY 25, 2017 Cash assistance cases still above pre-recession levels Caseloads have dropped from peak By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — The number of Oregonians receiving fed- eral cash assistance remains higher than it was at the start of the Great Recession, but state analysts expect the num- ber to shrink to pre-recession levels by early 2019. The number of people receiving Temporary Assis- tance for Needy Families, or TANF, the federal cash assistance program for peo- ple experiencing poverty, to an extent refl ects the state’s uneven economic recovery. As of June , there were 18,624 TANF cases in Ore- gon, translating to 45,978 people, according to the Ore- gon Department of Human Services. Caseloads have dropped off signifi cantly from their peak in early 2013. The program is “highly sensitive to the job market,” according to a recent Depart- ment of Human Services report. The report looked at case- loads for the program between January of 2008 and Decem- ber 2016 in each of Oregon’s cent growth in employment ters and a 42 percent growth to as food stamps, is avail- with a statewide dip in mid- 36 counties. between 2008 and 2016, in employment, many of able to more people because dle-wage job growth. While high-wage jobs and Families who earn less its TANF caseloads have those jobs require specialized it has a higher income limit. than 37 percent of People receiving low-wage jobs have reached the federal pov- SNAP are typi- pre-recession levels, jobs erty level are eligi- cally required to that fall in the middle of the Caseloads for programs such as cash income scale are growing ble for cash assis- work as well. tance . That’s about It has also taken more slowly. assistance are also ‘sticky’ indicators That lagging growth isn’t $630 per month for longer for Ore- just the result of the contrac- a family of three, gon’s rural areas that take a while to bounce back according to the to recover com- tion of the oft-discussed man- state . pared to Portland ufacturing sector and timber from bad economic times While over- and secondary industry, but also in “pink col- all the state is experiencing increased by about 88 percent skills and have been occupied metro areas such as Bend and lar” administrative and offi ce jobs traditionally held by a tight labor market, employ- in that period. by people moving into the Corvallis. women, Lehner said. ment rates haven’t recovered county. Contractions Many of those jobs were uniformly across the state — It’s also worth noting that Mirrors national trend Gregory Tooman, a with a relatively small pop- While robust population made obsolete by technologi- and neither have caseloads for social welfare programs such regional and caseload fore- ulation — just over 11,200 growth in Portland and other cal advances and effi ciencies, caster for the Department of according to 2016 census esti- areas of the state has driven and saw a severe dip after the as TANF and food stamps. Multnomah County, for Human Services , says that mates — a 42 percent leap demand for certain services, recession, especially in rural example, which has seen contractions in certain areas in employment in Morrow Oregon also mirrors a national areas. The recession also led both rapid growth in employ- of the economy may not have County translates to relatively trend: metropolitan areas with to cuts in public sector jobs, ment and in in-migration, in made a dent in TANF case- small real numbers. Same more diverse economies tend which typically take up a December 2016 had TANF loads because jobs in those goes for the county’s TANF to recover from downturns greater share of jobs in rural Oregon. caseloads that were actually 2 sectors require specialized caseloads, which jumped 56.4 more quickly. The Capital Bureau is a And in Oregon, part of the percent lower than they were training, licenses or skills. percent between 2008 and People who receive cash 2016. delay when it comes to reduc- collaboration between EO in January of 2008. By contrast, employment assistance are more likely to Generally, caseloads for ing welfare caseloads may Media Group and Pamplin in c entral Oregon’s Crook be low-skilled, semi skilled or programs such as cash assis- also have something to do Media Group. County is 14.1 percent lower unskilled workers. tance are also “sticky” indi- In addition, some recipi- cators that take a while to than it was in January 2008, and TANF caseloads are 18.6 ents of cash assistance may bounce back from bad eco- ASTOR STREET OPRY COMPANY be working, but are doing so nomic times, says state econ- percent higher. And while employment is part time or in very low-wage omist Josh Lehner. generally a solid indicator of jobs. And other parts of the The state report also social safety net may be even what TANF caseloads will look like, there are also other points to Morrow County as slower to bounce back from an “extreme outlier.” While pre-recession levels than cash factors at play. For example, even though the north central Oregon assistance: the Supplemen- 33rd Season of s outhern Oregon’s Jack- county has seen more high- tal Nutrition Assistance Pro- son County saw a 7.5 per- tech jobs at new data cen- gram, colloquially referred S hanghaied in A storia Task force eyes state assets that could reduce pension liability By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau PORTLAND — From the state’s liquor control com- mission to its approximately 4,600 parking spaces, a group appointed by the gov- ernor is starting to scrutinize ways to make the most of state assets to reduce pension obligations. In April, Gov. Kate Brown announced she was appoint- ing a task force to address the unfunded actuarial liability in the Public Employees Retire- ment System, which now stands at about $21.8 billion. The seven-member group, tasked with fi nding a way to reduce that amount by $5 bil- lion, had its fi rst meeting Monday. The unfunded actuar- ial liability of the system is the amount of money that the state’s obligations exceed the system’s assets currently will be able to pay. And the $21.8 billion amount may grow, though it’s not yet clear by how much. On Friday, the PERS board is expected to adopt rules reduc- ing the rate it assumes invest- ments of the Public Employ- ees Retirement Fund will earn annually. You can think about PERS like an algebra equation: Since a certain amount of benefi ts are guaranteed to employees, reducing the assumed earnings rate will increase the amount of money that public employ- ers — such as school districts, cities and counties — will have to contribute to the sys- tem to pay those benefi ts. Membership in the task force draws on the public and private sector, and ranges from the CFO of Oregon Health & Science University to the CEO of the Portland tech company Zapproved. 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