Business
AgLife
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Thursday, August 5, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
OREGON
State jobless
claims begin
falling again
Fewer than 4,200
Oregonians filed new
benefit claims last week
BY MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
SALEM — New jobless claims,
which remained stubbornly high in
Oregon last spring, have dropped
substantially over the past few
weeks.
Fewer than 4,200 Orego-
nians fi led new claims for bene-
fi ts last week, the lowest number
since October. The number of new
Oregon claims is now below the
average number of new claims in
the 10 weeks before the pandemic.
That’s a hopeful sign. Oregon’s
jobless rate was near an all-time low
until COVID-19 hit. The dearth of
new layoff s this summer, combined
with a steep fall in the number of
people collecting benefi ts each
week, suggests the state may have
a path to get back to something like
full employment.
“Employers added as many pay-
roll jobs in the fi rst six months
of this year as they did in the 22
months leading up to the pandemic,”
Oregon Employment Department
economist Gail Krumenauer wrote
in an email. “We still have a large
gap to full jobs recovery, but the
recalls of workers to their jobs and
much additional hiring is bringing
people back into the workforce.”
It’s no great mystery why claims
are falling now. Oregon has pulled
down nearly all COVID-19 restric-
tions over the past few months,
enabling bars, restaurants, hotels,
movie theaters and other sec-
tors to reopen after an unprece-
dented downturn leading into the
pandemic.
What’s a little more confounding
is why Oregon claims didn’t fall
sooner.
The number of new unemploy-
ment claims began a steep decline
across the country in spring.
Through May, though, claims
remained elevated in Oregon. The
employment department said fraud
was a signifi cant reason why Ore-
gon’s claims weren’t dropping
faster.
Cyberthieves have stolen bil-
lions of dollars in jobless benefi ts
nationwide during the pandemic.
It’s not clear how much Oregon has
lost — the state won’t say for fear of
tempting the crooks — but claims
its losses aren’t as great as else-
where. It does appear that attempted
fraud hit Oregon somewhat later
than it hit other states.
Fraud isn’t the whole story,
though. Oregon endured a fresh
set of business closures last fall as
COVID-19 levels spiked. Restau-
rants, bars and gyms shut down,
accompanied by a fresh batch of
layoff s.
The “freeze” that began in
November aff ected 53,000 workers,
according to an analysis by Krume-
nauer, producing 19,000 more new
claims and 34,000 renewed claims.
A fresh wave of COVID-19 cases
that hit Oregon in the spring peaked
in late April.
At the same time, some jobless
Oregonians were hitting the one-
year anniversary of layoff s that
began in the spring of 2020. Kru-
menauer said that meant they had
to fi le new initial claims to continue
receiving benefi ts.
As vaccines proliferated, though,
health restrictions eased and the
economy sprang back to life. Ore-
gon’s reopening came later than
in some other states, Krumenauer
noted, and that kept the number of
new jobless claims comparatively
high into summer.
Now, though, the economy is
reopening rapidly, and the number
of new jobless claims is back near
historic lows. The current increase
in COVID-19 cases associated with
the delta variant is introducing
uncertainty into the state’s eco-
nomic outlook, but there is no indi-
cation of new large-scale business
shutdowns and no sign yet of any
weakness in the job market.
R
E
D
N
U ONSTRUCTION
C
Alex Wittwer/
Wittwer/The Observer
Tony Hensley, left, along with Jase Richter and Taran Hardwick work on installing insulating foam to the new area of Les Schwab’s Adams Avenue location in
La Grande on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021.
Les Schwab remains
open amid construction
By CARLOS FUENTES
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Extensive
construction and renovations are
underway at Les Schwab, which
remains open for car servicing at
2306 Adams Ave., La Grande.
Phase one, which includes
replacing service bays, repaving
the parking lot and adding light
posts, is estimated to be com-
pleted by the end of August,
according to Bo Stroud, project
manager with LJH Construction.
Even with the exten-
sive work, the tire dealer and
repair shop has remained open
throughout the construction
and will continue to serve cus-
tomers during both phases of
the project.
“It’s made everything logisti-
cally more diffi cult, but our cus-
tomer base has been very under-
standing,” Lee Stebar, manager
of the La Grande Les Schwab
Tire Center, said. “It keeps us
excited and wanting to continue
providing world class service to
our customers.”
The new service bays will
have more equipment on hand,
such as new air compression
drops, which is only one way
the construction will improve
wait times and service quality,
according to Stebar.
“Our main focus is going
to be to lessen wait time,” he
said. “We want to be able to get
people in the store, give them
the service that Les Schwab is
famous for, and get them back to
their day as soon as possible.”
Additionally, the light posts
in the parking lot will provide a
more comfortable environment
for customers, particularly in the
winter months, Stebar said.
Phase two, which will begin
in mid-August and fi nish by late
fall, will involve remodeling the
building’s interior and repainting
the exterior and interior.
“It’s going to have new lights,
an all new showroom, upgraded
bathrooms, new tile, just every-
thing,” Stroud said. “It’s gonna
look really nice inside.”
There have been several
delays with material shortages
and a lack of original blueprints
for the building, according to
Stroud.
“They had no original prints
on the building,” he said. “This
whole front area has been com-
pletely redesigned by me and the
engineers and architects.”
Additionally, crews found old
walls and a fl oor underneath the
old service bays when digging
up the site.
See, Schwab/Page B3
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Under construction on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, the new 12,000-square-foot
OXARC building in La Grande will give the business considerably more
space.
OXARC hopes to be in new
facilities by late September
By CARLOS FUENTES
The Observer
LA GRANDE — OXARC
will soon have a new home in
a 12,000-square-foot facility
being built next to Miller’s
Home Center off of Island
Avenue.
According to Jarod Teeter,
project manager at Mike
Becker General Contractor,
the new building is expected
to be completed by late
September.
“We’re moving along right
now, hoping we’ll be done by
the end of September,” Teeter
said. “This COVID thing has
gotten things slowed down in
terms of getting materials, but
the weather has been super
great. We haven’t had much
rain, so we were able to get in
early.”
OXARC, a Spokane-based
and family-owned com-
pany, supplies construction,
welding, chemical and fi re
services equipment. The new
facility will include an expan-
sive showroom, a loading
dock and a higher capacity for
material storage.
See, OXARC/Page B3
ENVIRONMENT
Survey: Most Oregonians concerned about water management
More than half of state
is in extreme or
exceptional drought
By MICHAEL KOHN
The Bulletin
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin, File
Seven out of 10 Oregonians are concerned about how the state’s groundwater
and surface water are being managed. Most Oregonians say the answer to re-
solving water problems is increasing state subsidies for high-effi ciency irriga-
tion equipment.
PORTLAND — Seven out
of 10 Oregonians are concerned
about how the state’s ground-
water and surface water are
being managed. Most Orego-
nians say the answer to resolving
water problems is increasing
state subsidies for high-effi -
ciency irrigation equipment.
Those are two fi ndings in
a recent survey conducted by
the Oregon Values and Beliefs
Center, a Portland-based non-
profi t. The survey was con-
ducted statewide in July and
involved 1,464 respondents. It
carries a margin of error of 1.5%
to 2.6%.
Results of the survey show
that while Oregonians are
largely concerned about water
issues, many believe that there is
enough water to serve all needs
and shortages are not likely to
occur. These opinions are being
expressed while the entire state
is in some form of drought.
According to the U.S. drought
monitor, more than half of the
state is in extreme or exceptional
drought. Coastal areas and the
Willamette Valley are in mod-
erate or severe drought.
Key fi ndings in the survey
show that a quarter of respon-
dents are not very or not
at all concerned about the
management of surface
and groundwater.
See, Drought/Page B3