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East Oregonian
Saturday, October 2, 2021
Work:
RetroRagz:
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Continued from Page A1
Turnover, then, is low, accord-
ing to Karlson. His workers appre-
ciate their jobs and the benefi ts of
their labor, so they work well, but
this is not all. They did not just
start working hard when they
joined his company; they started
as good workers.
Karlson relies on pre-employ-
ment interviews to screen poten-
tial employees. Even if he has to
do interviews by Zoom, rather
than in person, he likes to be able
to look a potential employee in the
eye. He said he tries to fi gure their
abilities and their character. If he
thinks an employee will be a good
fi t, he said, they usually are.
Karlson said his company
is “in the best position we’ve
ever been,” and this is during
a pandemic when many other
companies are struggling to retain
or to fi nd employees.
N.W. Crane has experience in
worker relations, which Karlson
attributed to its humble begin-
nings. The company grew as
part of N.W. Metal Fabricators
Inc., a company owned by his
father, Kerry Karlson. His father
was doing well with metal fabri-
cating, but he saw the need for
cranes. When he started oper-
ating his own crane, more and
more employers approached him
for help. He added a second crane,
which led to more.
By 2005, the crane side of the
business was large enough to
justify a separate business, and
N.W. Crane Services was born. It
began operating on its own prop-
erty, separate from the fabrication
company where it started.
A family operation that has
developed since Ryan Karlson’s
father first came to Hermis-
ton with his family in 1986, the
companies treat their workers
like family, and that approach
has “gone a long way” to inspir-
ing employees to stay, he said.
Having experienced workers
also is vital, Karlson said, because
their jobs are no small feat.
He has nine cranes. The small-
est weighs 40 tons. The largest
tops out at 550 tons. He recently
had this biggest crane on site at
Lamb Weston. It took 15 semi-
trailers to move the crane and
a 60-ton support crane to put it
together. Taking it down, after
the job, takes his staff 5-1/2 hours
of coordinated, skilled and diffi -
cult work.
“They’re amazing,” Karlson
said of his employees.
At the time, the disease was in its
infancy, and reported cases were not in the
U.S. So, he did not get a test to verify it.
He thought he would recover a bit, work
through the end of his sickness and be fi ne.
His illnesses, and other personal issues,
delayed the opening of his new business.
He had started renting a storefront in down-
town Stanfi eld. Its location, across both a
library and a popular restaurant, made it
attractive.
As he was an auctioneer with many
contacts in antiques and vintage clothing,
he was able to develop an inventory. He had
paintings, movie memorabilia and more.
In addition, he possessed a collection of
wood art, which he carved, and inventions
of his own making. He fashioned a collec-
tion of bow ties for dogs, and he was in the
process of making new clothing from used
designer wear.
He was excited, and he even painted the
name of his new shop, RetroRagz, on his
van. His plan was to open in late 2019.
Illnesses, including what he believes to
be his fi rst bout with COVID-19, though,
kept him from opening his doors. He would
later feel better, but would then get sick
again and be unable to ready his store for a
proper opening. He opened for customers
by request, but he did not see much interest
from the public.
“Who would want to come to an antique
store during a pandemic?” he said.
A couple of times, he brought items
outside the front of his store for a sidewalk
sale. These sales, however, were not helping
him pay his bills. He maintained his online
business, selling antiques, but those sales
were not paying much, either.
He was falling behind on his rent, his
wife was in the hospital with multiple scle-
rosis and he kept getting sick. His problems
were piling up, and he could not fi nd the
help he needed.
When he started struggling fi nancially,
he applied for the Small Business Assis-
tance COVID-19 Disaster Relief loans and
two small grants.
“It took over eight weeks for them to get
back to me with a denial for the reason they
could not verify I was an actual business,”
he said.
A simple Google search should be
enough to prove its existence, he thought.
“I was crushed,” he said. “That was the
fi nal blow. I appealed, but haven’t heard
back from them.”
Economists: Prepare for
headwinds to temper
growth
To say it’s been a tough year to
be a business owner would be an
understatement.
The rise and the fall of COVID-
19 cases, risk levels that opened
and closed businesses, new safety
protocols and a severe labor short-
age have forced many business
owners to rethink and retool their
operations. Some industries —
such as health care and leisure and
hospitality — have been hit hard
by the pandemic and a lack of
workers. Other industries haven’t
felt a thing, economists say.
In response, small businesses
have raised wages and bumped
up benefi ts to draw works, which
often requires raising prices to
off set these new costs. A job that
paid a minimum wage of $9.25
an hour in 2016 now pays $12.75
an hour, according to the Oregon
Autism:
Continued from Page A1
Messages f looded Wehrli’s
accounts as the video spread rapidly
and his following skyrocketed.
Many of the messages were from
people who have loved ones with
autism. They said doctors had told
them the same thing — that their
child would never succeed — and
seeing Wehrli’s video gave them
hope.
“I was definitely surprised,”
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Ilyas Harral, of Pendleton, uses a rope to guide a crane segment into position Monday, Sept. 27, 2021,
while working with Hermiston-based N.W. Crane Service Inc. at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Rich-
land, Washington.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Riley Sederburg, of Adams, lines up a hydraulic component while
working with Hermiston-based N.W. Crane Service Inc. to assemble
a crane Monday, Sept. 27, 2021, at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in
Richland, Washington.
Bureau of Labor and Industries.
For the past fi ve weeks, EO Media
Group explored the eff ect of the
labor shortage on businesses,
industries and workers young
and old.
The Oregon Employment
Department reported the state
regained nearly 2 out of 3 jobs
lost in spring 2020 when govern-
ment mandates restricted or
closed business operations. A
record level of job openings
were reported in April and June
in Oregon and across the coun-
try. Businesses reported 98,000
job vacancies at any given time
between April and June.
In addition, there were about
32,500 Oregonians between
April and June who said they
couldn’t work because of child
care concerns or health concerns
related to COVID-19.
EO Media
Group asked
regional econ-
omists Christo-
pher Rich and
Gail K r ume-
nauer to project
the economic Krumenauer
o u t l o o k fo r
their areas and
Damon Runberg,
t h e s t a t e ’s
economist, to
com ment on
Oregon’s future
Rich
economy. Their
answers have
been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: What is the economic
vision for Oregon going forward
now that the initial impacts of the
Wehrli said. “In fact, I responded
by going for a run with my dog
because it was so exhilarating for
me.”
Wehrli was thrilled. He said it
felt great to see his video having
an impact. He responded to many
of the messages, providing people
with advice. But then the comments
became endless, and he became
overwhelmed.
“What they don’t realize is that
I’m only one person and I can’t
respond to everybody,” he said.
“All those messages I was getting
ilders
was just so draining. A lot of people
think it would be fun to be famous,
but it can be very overwhelming. It
was draining my mental health and
taking a toll on me.”
He turned off direct messag-
ing to all his accounts. Instead, he
pointed commenters toward his
website, where they could sign up
for paid coaching. Some people
were pushy, insisting that he dole
out advice for free. Others signed
up for sessions.
Wehrli helps parents navigate the
challenges that come with having
Moving on
Before his most recent COVID-19 infec-
tion, he got vaccinated. He obtained the two
required shots of the Pfi zer vaccine. But
that did not keep him from getting his worst
case of COVID-19 to that point. Though he
feels well now, a month after his positive
test, he said he suff ered diffi culty breathing
when he was symptomatic. It was painful,
and he was in bed much of the time.
In addition to selling antiques, he was
planning to turn his store into an art gallery
and maybe even a studio. He dreamed of
people being able to visit, sometimes just
to sit and look at the paintings which would
be hanging on the shop walls.
Instead, he now plans on taking time to
care for his wife, who he said just tested
positive for COVID-19 while in the hospi-
tal. He will also take care of himself, hope-
ful he will not become ill again.
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Dave Bender stands in front of his van out-
side of his shop, RetroRagz, in Stanfi eld
on Sept. 24, 2021. Bender says he suspects
he fi rst caught COVID-19 in late 2019, and
tests show he caught it twice in 2021.
children with autism. Whether it be
in school or at home, his goal is to
draw on his personal experiences
to help parents better understand
their child.
“I would give them my take on
what the situation is like in their
shoes to help them understand how
to connect with their child and what
I think they should do to help their
child,” he said.
He also uses social media plat-
forms to distribute facts and infor-
mation about autism, with a goal of
dispelling misconceptions. Wehrli
believes social media can be a good
way for people to talk construc-
tively about autism and to share
their stories. But for now, he’s keep-
ing his direct messages closed.
“The internet has the capabil-
ity of reaching everybody around
the world, so anybody who’s on the
internet who stumbles across this,
this would be a good information
source for them,” he said. “Maybe
this is what I’m called to do, what
I’m here for. Everybody is trying
to fi nd their purpose in life. Maybe
this is my purpose.”
NEED
ed Bu
c
n
e
i
r
e
xp
g E
ow Hirin
N
pandemic-related shutdowns are
behind us?
A: Krumenauer: I think the
general, common theme is that
we’d all hope to see continued
recovery and/or economic expan-
sion, but we have already seen
higher infl ation in recent months.
It’s due in part to worker wages
rising, in part to higher demand
(this summer for things like air
travel and accommodations), and
also in part to shortages in supply
chains that are reducing the abil-
ity to produce as many of certain
goods as people want (microchips
and cars are a good example of
this).
Q: Where is the economy
headed?
A: Runberg: As recovery and/
or expansion continues, there are
some longer-term facts that are
going to come into play, creating
headwinds for growth. Those are
lower net in-migration — the
primary way we grow our work-
force — and ongoing or increas-
ing retirements. According to
the Current Population Survey,
there was a 4.5% increase in
those 65-plus who were not in
the labor force in 2020. That is
a big jump, roughly 2 million
people age 65 and older are out
of the labor force nationwide.
The big picture trend is clear that
the retiring of the baby boom-
ers has begun and it is one of the
factors in our tight labor market.
Q: Will businesses have to
continue to pivot to stay ahead
of this current labor crisis?
A: Krumenauer: As for
businesses pivoting, or rather
continuing to adjust their hiring
strategies, yes. I think they’ve
already been incredibly innova-
tive in changing their business
operations due to COVID, and
in trying to hire more workers
when the labor market is so tight
(lots of job openings, relatively
low unemployment, and some
workers still facing barriers to
taking jobs).
Q: What are some of the
things employers are doing to
encourage workers to return to
the workforce?
A: Krumenauer: For one,
employers have raised wages.
Those wages have risen by more
than 2% in Oregon over the past
year. Three out of fi ve off ered
health benefi ts, and half off ered
retirement benefi ts. One out of
10 of employers off ering health
insurance, and one out of five
offering retirement benefits,
cited worker hiring and reten-
tion advantages related to those
off erings. Half of Oregon’s private
fi rms off ered paid holidays, and
half off ered paid vacation days.
One-third offered at least one
of the following: fl exible work
schedules, production or perfor-
mance bonuses, paid professional
development training and life
insurance. Some employers have
relaxed experience requirements.
Employers also are layering
help wanted signs with other
efforts such as referral incen-
tives, signing bonuses, posting
with online job boards, and work-
ing with recruiters outside of their
immediate geographical area.
Eastern Oregon outlook by
Christopher Rich: “The larg-
est uncertainty in Eastern
Oregon’s regional outlook is
currently COVID-19. Prior to
the pandemic, the region saw
prolonged job growth begin-
ning to slow due to a tight
labor market. One of the larg-
est concerns employers voiced
was a need to hire workers and
a lack thereof. Industries at the
top of the list were health care
and social assistance, manu-
facturing, retail trade, leisure
and hospitality, and transporta-
tion. Total employment reached
a peak of 70,570 jobs in Octo-
ber 2019 and the average annual
unemployment rate for the
region had fallen to a low 4.7%.
The January through August
average unemployment rate for
the region was 5.3%.”
New
Barn
or
Office?
Tobias Unruh, owner
600 David Eccles Rd
Baker City, Oregon
Sales
Elkhorn Barn Co.
Custom Barns and Storage
541-519 -2968 • Elkhornbarns@gmail.com • 509-331-4558