A6
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2021
Jobs: ‘Challenging Scorched: ‘It’s going to be a long slog’
hiring environment
for employers’
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
He said that goes beyond
reinstating federal work search
requirements — that people
are able to work, available
for work and actively seek-
ing work to continue to qual-
ify for unemployment bene-
fi ts — and registering people
for the iMatchSkills system to
connect them with jobs.
Starting this past week,
he said, several WorkSource
offi ces have reopened for
in-person appointments to
help people with job searches
and training.
All WorkSource offi ces,
which
are
partnerships
between the state agency and
others, have been accepting
telephone and online appoint-
ments for job seekers. They do
not process benefi t claims.
“Some people are really
self-suffi cient and know
exactly what is needed. It’s
pretty easy for them to fi nd a
job through iMatchSkills, and
there’s not a huge eff ort on our
part to help them fi nd that next
job, especially in such a com-
petitive job market,” Gersten-
feld told reporters during a
conference call on Wednesday .
“Other people are facing
real barriers, such as medical
conditions or child care, or it
could be they need some addi-
tional training to be competi-
tive for a job or the career they
want. So there is a lot of indi-
vidualized work.
“We know there is a lot of
pent-up demand from peo-
ple wanting assistance. So we
want to make sure we are as
well prepared as possible.”
Agency economist Gail
Krumenauer said a cou-
ple of studies of the 25 states
that chose to end extra fed-
eral benefi ts ahead of sched-
ule on Sept. 4 do not indicate
that they have caused massive
dislocations for unemployed
workers. One study was by
the University of Massachu-
setts at Amherst, the other by
the national job listing website
Indeed.
Short downturn
Krumenauer said about
32,500 people in Oregon
still are unable to come back
to work for various reasons
related to the pandemic. They
may be ailing , have responsi-
bility to care for family mem-
bers, or unable to obtain child
care.
But that total is down from
66,000 last fall, and Kru-
menauer said the number of
unemployment benefi t recip-
ients has dropped in recent
months.
The two-month plunge
from February to April 2020,
when Oregon lost almost
290,000 jobs after the pan-
demic resulted in business
curtailments and closures, has
now been deemed a recession.
The usual federal defi nition of
a recession is a decline in gross
domestic product — the mea-
sure of goods and services —
for two consecutive quarters.
Oregon’s unemployment
rate shot up from a record
low 3.5% in March 2020 to a
record adjusted high of 13.2%
in April 2020, and the number
of unemployment claims also
topped 500,000 within a short
period. The rate was 5.6% in
June, although Oregon has
regained only about two-thirds
of the lost jobs. A full recov-
ery is projected in late 2022 or
early 2023.
“Given the scale of the
impacts to the economy, this
was defi nitely worth an excep-
tion to that rule,” Krumenauer
said.
Oregon’s job growth in
the fi rst six months of this
year equaled the number of
jobs created in the 22 months
prior to the pandemic . But
Oregon businesses reported
almost 98,000 job vacancies
this spring, a record since that
statistic was fi rst compiled in
2013.
Krumenauer said there are
several reasons.
“There is a lot of pent-up
demand for goods and ser-
vices,” she said. The Oregon
Offi ce of Economic Analy-
sis mentioned in a July report
that $2.1 trillion in savings
has been amassed nationally
during the pandemic.
She also said there are
big changes in the workforce
itself, such as a record number
of people who voluntarily left
their jobs.
Some left for higher-pay-
ing careers. While Oregon’s
average starting wage in the
leisure and hospitality sector
remained around $13 per hour
during the fi rst quarter of this
year , it rose by $2 in retail trade
to $17 per hour — and it was
$20 per hour in transportation,
utilities and warehousing.
Krumenauer said there’s
also competition among busi-
nesses within a sector.
“There is more worker
movement that increases the
hiring needs of businesses,”
she said. “They often create a
vacancy to replace them.”
The other big change, a
continuation of a pre-pan-
demic trend, is retirements.
One of every four Oregon
workers is 55 or older, and
the ratio is greater in several
job sectors. Between 2016
and 2019, the number of peo-
ple who chose to retire rose by
21%.
Although the pandemic
interrupted that trend, Krume-
nauer said, “we expect they
will be on the upswing again”
as more post-World War II
baby boomers get out of the
workforce permanently.
“All of that adds up to a
challenging hiring environ-
ment for employers,” she said.
An end in sight
The Oregon Employ-
ment Department has paid out
$10.2 billion in state and fed-
eral unemployment benefi ts
since March 2020. Much of
that money was from several
federal programs approved or
extended by Congress, but are
scheduled to end in Septem-
ber . Technically, the deadline
is Labor Day, but Oregon and
most states end their claims
week on Saturdays.
They are:
• Benefi ts for self-em-
ployed and gig workers, many
of whom were not covered
by the system until the 2020
CARES Act, which created
Pandemic
Unemployment
Assistance.
• Benefi ts that kicked in (53
weeks total), known as Pan-
demic Emergency Unemploy-
ment Compensation, once
someone exhausted regular
state benefi ts of 26 weeks.
• Benefi ts (an extra $100
per week) for people who
receive regular state benefi ts,
but also earn at least $5,000
from other income sources,
under Mixed Earner Unem-
ployment Compensation.
• Across-the-board bene-
fi ts of $300 per week known
as Federal Pandemic Unem-
ployment
Compensation.
This had started at $600 per
week under the CARES Act,
but lasted only four months;
it was restarted in January at
the lower level and renewed in
March.
Gerstenfeld said it is possi-
ble a few people may qualify
for extended benefi ts or help
from the regular state pro-
gram, which is funded by pay-
roll taxes on employers.
“We are not anticipating
that a work search require-
ment by itself is going to sig-
nifi cantly shift the number of
people receiving benefi ts,” he
said. “We anticipate an ongo-
ing decrease in the number
of people receiving or seek-
ing benefi ts. But I believe that
is related to a really strong
job market, not work search
requirements.”
The Oregon Capital
Bureau is a collaboration
between EO Media Group and
Pamplin Media Group.
Only time will tell how
trees will recover — partic-
ularly spruce trees that have
already endured several sea-
sons of damage from spruce
aphids as well as drought,
Christine Buhl, a state for-
est entomologist, told T he
Astorian.
“I’m seeing more and
more the toll the long-term
drought in Oregon is having
on trees,” Buhl had noted in
a statement from the D epart-
ment of F orestry following
the heat wave. “Even trees
that usually tolerate drought
well are becoming stressed
as we see the years with
below-average rainfall start
to outnumber those with
good amounts of rain.”
Goody expects estab-
lished trees to recover. Most
have browning only on one
side. They’ll bounce back,
he predicts. A small percent-
age will die — trees that may
have already been especially
stressed by other conditions
like the dry spring or insect
infestations.
It’s the seedlings that
Goody worries about.
The Department of For-
estry estimates it may have
lost up to a quarter of seed-
lings it had planted out on
state land in the North Coast
region. Some of those young
trees may recover. Foresters
won’t know the full extent of
the damage until the fall, but
anticipate some replanting
will be necessary.
Other timberland man-
agers are juggling similar
concerns.
As wildfi res rage in
Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
ABOVE: Trees in timberland outside of Astoria were scorched
brown in the heat wave. RIGHT: Many needles on trees were
scorched brown and red.
the state, the North Coast
remains a relative garden
when it comes to fi re expo-
sure, though that could
quickly change depending
on weather conditions.
“It’s going to be a long
slog until the rain hits, so
we’re pacing ourselves,”
Goody said.
Williams said he had
never seen anything like the
heat wave and its eff ects on
the forest in his career.
For Wentzel, the scorched
trees along coastal high-
ways were shocking. T he
local farmers and gardeners
she works with are also in a
wait-and-see mode for many
of their plants.
In the days after the
heat wave, people noticed
scorched leaves on certain
plants, berries that looked
like they had been cooked
in place. There was damage
even to plants that normally
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Wentzel said one of the
best things any gardener
can do is build in resilience
ahead of time by creating as
healthy an environment as
possible from the beginning.
This means establishing con-
sistent and adequate water-
ing practices, ensuring there
are enough nutrients in the
soil and keeping an eye out
for pests and pathogens.
Conditions expected to
follow with climate change
— higher summer tempera-
tures and an increase in heat
waves, for example — will
make traditional North Coast
gardening more challenging.
Wentzel usually encour-
ages people to buy native
plants for their decorative
landscapes. H owever, as the
climate shifts, “those could
be the plants that struggle the
most as the heat continues to
rise,” Wentzel said.
“But that being said,” she
added, “with both the chang-
ing climates and the variety
of microclimates we have
here, it does mean it’s worth
experimenting a little bit
in your garden. Be curious
and brave with what’s worth
trying.”
Homeless: Lack of housing adds diffi culty
Continued from Page A1
Putting a face to the
homeless in Seaside and
fi nding adequate shelter for
them was one of the goal’s of
Wednesday’s meeting. Nelle
Moff ett and Rick Bowers,
who founded Friends of the
Unsheltered, moderated the
event.
The event followed four
previous sessions focused
on fi nding answers to the
complex web of need and
resources for the city’s
unsheltered.
“I think my fi rst thought
would be to remember that
the homeless community,
bottom line, they are peo-
ple,” Seamus McVey, who
facilitates a recovery clinic
working with addicts, the
mentally ill and homeless
in Seaside, said. “They may
have been you, or you, or me
— all deserving the same
basic levels of respect.”
Not having a place to go
or access to resources are the
biggest issues, McVey said.
“Agencies in the area are not
set up to help those actively
on the street,” he said.
A lack of housing avail-
ability throughout Clatsop
County makes matters more
diffi cult.
“We have the ability to
help people get into housing,
deposits, sometimes a few
months rent — the trick is to
fi nd a place,” Cheryl Paul, a
homeless liaison with Clat-
sop Community Action,
said. “And for most of the
programs, the trick is, they
need to fi nd a place. And
guess what. There are just
no places right now. ... When
they do come open, they go
very quickly. There’s just no
place to put anybody.”
Some homeless are
working, and their transi-
tion to housing should come
fi rst, Moff ett said. “One
strategy is to house the easy
ones, low-hanging fruit, so
to speak, get the people who
are not crazy, not addicted,
that are working,” she said.
“Let’s get them housed, and
then work on the next group
of people and we can solve
the problem for them.”
“Everybody loves to live
on the beach, but it’s not
cheap to live at the beach,”
Bruce Rosebrock, a resident,
said. “I’m in favor of transi-
tional housing. If you’ve got
taxpayer money or donor
money, they want to see
some success with their
money. But how do you
make that work? I think the
average person has a good
heart, but we don’t all have
bottomless pocketbooks. To
see success, the community
wants to see results.”
Changes to city ordi-
nances removing panhan-
dling laws or sleeping in
vehicles could decriminal-
ize homelessness and ease
the burden on law enforce-
ment. A limit on the num-
ber of vacation rentals in the
community could also be
enacted to free up available
housing.
Kathy Kleczek, who
serves on the Planning Com-
mission , suggested a food
and beverage tax to take the
burden off local taxpayers.
“We’re tiptoeing around the
systemic issue,” she said. “It
would be a great idea to fi nd
a diff erent source of how to
fund our infrastructure. We
need a tax from those who
come to visit, who have the
money in their pocket.”
The tax, like the pro-
posed 5% food tax in Can-
non Beach that could go to
voters in November, is a
valuable means of raising
funds for the community,
Kleczek said.
City Councilor Tita Mon-
tero, who helped organize
the homelessness forums,
said the next step is brain-
storming. “You put all those
ideas out there, no matter
how crazy they are,” she
said. “You don’t say ‘no’ to
anything, you don’t judge
anything. You get it all on
the table. And then you start
sorting through, ‘Where can
we do this one, where can
we do this one ?’
“If you don’t do any-
thing, you won’t get any-
where,” Montero added. “At
some point, we have to take
that step of faith and say,
‘We’re going to try this.’
And we’re going to see what
happens.”
OLCC: ‘We really have to help all of our licensees’
Continued from Page A1
products, as well as new
methods for testing hemp
in fi elds.
Two s outhern Oregon
counties, Jackson and
Josephine, will be a focal
point of attention for the
commission due to their
recent increase in illegal
cannabis growth.
“What’s going on in
southern Oregon with the
cartel takeover of canna-
bis growing through the
guise of hemp and our role
in being able to enforce that
is all incredibly important,”
said Steve Marks, the com-
mission’s executive direc-
tor. “We and our partners are
poised to begin eradicating
this illegal activity, to bring
stability to disrupted com-
munities starting in Jack-
son and Josephine counties,
and to ensure that our legal,
licensed, tax paying canna-
bis licensees aren’t being
undermined by illegal mar-
ket activity.”
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thrive in warmer climates.
But, Wentzel noted, “our
individual plants have only
ever lived here on the North
Coast.” When temperatures
skyrocket overnight, they
don’t have time to adjust.
The damaged tissues on
a scorched plant may not
recover, but there’s a good
chance the plant itself will,
Wentzel said. For garden-
ers looking to salvage what’s
left, she recommends lightly
pruning back scorched
leaves and branches, making
sure the plant still has some
leaves.
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“Where this agency has
to go, we really have to
help all of our licensees,”
he added. “The hospitality
industry, alcohol and canna-
bis move on to post-COVID
recovery. We’ve got a lot
of challenges there for the
industry over the next two
years. To make sure Ore-
gon’s economy is strong
and we do our part with that
with the resources given to
us.”