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Thursday, January 27, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Choosing
Oregon
When remote workers can
live anywhere, some choose
Oregon while others leave
By JAMIE GOLDBERG
The Oregonian
PORTLAND — In the years before
the pandemic, Duncan Gans would fan-
tasize with his then-scattered college
friends about moving together to the
same city.
The idea seemed fanciful. His
friends worked in offices across the
United States. And while Gans some-
times worked remotely and traveled
for his job at a public opinion research
firm, he still felt pressured to live in
Washington, D.C., where his company
is based.
But when office workers were sent
home en masse in the early days of
the pandemic, Gans began to wonder
whether he needed to remain in the
small row house he shared with eight
others to save money in an expen-
sive rental market. In August 2020, he
and four of his friends from Bowdoin
College, a small liberal arts school in
Maine, packed up and moved across the
country to live together in a house in
Bend.
“I work in a space where there
was an assumption that you live in
this 30-mile radius around D.C.,”
said Gans, 24. “That was honestly a
big deterrent for me doing that work,
despite it being something I really
care about. Being able to live in a
place that has a lot of outdoor access
but still do work that I really enjoy
means a lot.”
Millions of workers across the
United States switched to remote work
early in the pandemic. Nearly two
years later, many still haven’t returned
to offices, and it’s become clear some
never will.
The newfound freedom to work
from anywhere has allowed some
to rethink where they want to live,
a trend that could have profound
impacts on the economy and lead to a
long-term shift in national migration
patterns.
Before the pandemic, only about
6% of the American workforce worked
from home, according to U.S. Census
Bureau estimates. A separate Bureau
of Labor Statistics survey found
that the number of people working
remotely jumped to 35% in May 2020
before steadily declining over the next
year. An elevated 11% of the U.S.
workforce was continuing to work
from home as of November, according
to the survey.
Hiring benefit
Some large companies have
embraced the shift as a permanent
one, saying their employees will for-
ever have the option to work remotely
and are using those policies to lure
new hires. Some cities and states are
looking to take advantage of the shift,
too. Tulsa, Oklahoma, for example, will
pay remote workers up to $10,000 to
move to the city.
Josh Lehner, an analyst with Ore-
gon’s Office of Economic Analysis,
said it’s too early to know how prev-
alent remote work will be in the long
term and how a spike in telecom-
muting could change migration pat-
terns. He said it’s important to note
that only about a third of jobs in the
United States can be done remotely.
However, the longer the pandemic
drags on, he said, the more likely the
new work patterns will stick. Oregon
had more people working from home
and better internet access than most
states before the pandemic, Lehner
noted, which could make it a desirable
destination for remote workers in the
future.
And while the long-term effects are
still unclear, even a small change in the
percentage of people working remotely
could have far-reaching effects.
“This is the equivalent of the
internet in 1997,” Lehner said. “We’re
years away from knowing how this is
going to work out.”
Some come here, some leave
It is clear, however, that a move to
remote work during the pandemic has
given many workers more options.
Some, like Gans, are choosing to
come to Oregon. Others are choosing
to leave.
See, Remote/Page B2
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Robert Minarich, co-owner of Sim Shot, a new virtual gun range in Island City, plays through a round of a boar-hunting simulation on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022.
ENTERTAINMENT AND
FIREARM SAFETY
accurate, down to the pixel,”
Minarich said. “Shot placement
is very accurate and people will
find that they have to aim down
the sight posts to get an accu-
rate shot.”
Virtual gun range
opens in Island City
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
ISLAND CITY — A first-of-
its-kind shooting range recently
marked its grand opening in
town.
Sim Shot, a virtual shooting
range that focuses on entertain-
ment and firearm safety, opened
its doors for business on Friday,
Jan. 21. Owner Robert Minarich
and the team at Sim Shot hope
to create a unique new enter-
tainment venue in Northeastern
Oregon, as well as a hub for
promoting responsible firearm
usage.
“We want it to be that fun
atmosphere. We’re trying
to bring something fun and
exciting to town to give people
something to do,” he said.
“Beyond entertainment, we also
really want to promote safe,
responsible gun ownership.”
Top simulation technology
Sim Shot is more than just an
arcade, with the industry’s top
simulation technology creating
realistic shooting scenarios in
more than 40 simulated options.
With an entertainment concept
Genesis of the idea
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
David Chaney, right, and Robert Minarich go through training simulations at
Sim Shot in Island City on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022.
modeled similar to Top Golf
and bowling alleys, the busi-
ness serves a primary purpose
of entertainment for all ages. In
addition, an array of training
exercises promote gun safety
and learning opportunities at
the virtual range.
The new business is located
at 10200 W. First St., Island
City, near where Island Avenue
meets Highway 82, and is
owned by Minarich and his par-
ents, John and Beverly. The
location, which the owners and
employees spent all summer
renovating, offers four bays
for simulated shooting. Each
bay has a projector with 42
total simulation options, with
hunting and entertainment
games available as well as drills
that simulate official shooting
qualifications.
The technology includes a
shot camera connected to each
projector, which is calibrated
through a computer. An invis-
ible laser is shot out of each
gun, allowing for accurate
shooting simulations — much
more precise than a run-of-the-
mill arcade shooting game.
“We can be extremely
Minarich and his father, who
are also co-owners of Wind-
hill Holsters and Alpine Alarm,
came up with the idea while
attending SHOT Show in Las
Vegas in early 2020.
“We were just roaming
around looking at stuff and
were talking about how cool it
would be to have an indoor gun
range here in town,” Minarich
said. “We had a blast doing it.
We walked away and started
scratching our heads, thinking
that we can do something with
it.”
Minarich partnered with
David Chaney, an employee
at Sim Shot who had a sim-
ilar vision for the opportuni-
ties of a virtual shooting range
in La Grande. The business
model caters toward entertain-
ment options, including book-
ings for parties, business gath-
erings, group sessions and
more. As for the firearm safety
aspect, Minarich emphasized
See, Range/Page B2
JOBS IN OREGON
Oregon jobless rate edged Oregon has more
down to 4.1% in December open jobs than it does
That was before the worst
of the omicron surge
By KATE DAVIDSON
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — Oregon’s unemploy-
ment rate inched down again in
December, though it was measured
too early in the month to account
for the widespread disruption of the
omicron surge.
The state added 8,200 jobs last
month. Unemployment decreased
to 4.1% from 4.2% in November,
marking the 20th month in a row
the state’s jobless rate has improved.
The national unemployment rate
was 3.9% in December.
In Oregon, December job gains
were biggest in the leisure and hos-
pitality sector, as well as in health
care and social assistance, manufac-
turing, and professional and busi-
ness services.
But despite businesses such
as gyms, hotels and restaurants
gaining more than 2,600 jobs last
month, they still have a long way
to go. The leisure and hospitality
sector ended the year 23,000 jobs
below its pre-pandemic peak.
The state closed out 2021 with
near-record high job vacancies.
Private employers listed 103,000
job openings between October
and December, ratcheting up
the already-intense pressure to
compete for workers. The sheer
number of open positions dwarfed
the state’s pre-pandemic high of
66,000 vacancies in the summer of
2017.
“We’re not just a little bit above
where we were before. This is
head and shoulders above where
we’ve been before,” said economist
Gail Krumenauer with the Oregon
Employment Department.
Average starting wages rose to
$21 per hour in the fall, Krume-
nauer said. That’s a head-turning
14% increase, year-over-year, after
adjusting for inflation.
But even rising wages can’t
make up for this fact:
There are now more job open-
ings in Oregon than there are
unemployed people.
The pandemic is still making it
hard for many people to be avail-
able for work. And the omicron
surge is exacerbating that.
See, Jobless/Page B2
unemployed people
BY MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
SALEM — Oregon
employers had a notori-
ously difficult time filling
jobs all last year.
Burger flippers, chip-
makers, pipefitters,
nurses. They were all in
short supply.
New data out from the
state helps explain why.
Employers posted tens of
thousands of job open-
ings last year as the pan-
demic recession faded.
At the same time, Ore-
gon’s unemployment rate
plunged.
That created an unprec-
edented mismatch: By
fall, the state had more
job openings than people
looking for work. It’s the
first time that’s happened
since at least 2013, when
Oregon began conducting
its quarterly job vacancy
survey.
The most recent survey
from the Oregon Employ-
ment Department found
the state had about 103,000
job openings in October.
That’s actually slightly
fewer than during the
summer.
The state’s labor
squeeze didn’t ease up at
all, though, because unem-
ployment was falling even
faster. Oregon’s jobless
rate dropped to just 4.4%
in October, near a his-
toric low. It fell to 4.2% in
November.
Layoffs spiked when the
pandemic hit Oregon in
the spring of 2020. At that
time, when Oregon unem-
ployment was at a record
high, there were nearly six
people on the jobless rolls
for every open job.
By the fall of 2021,
though, the situation had
reversed.
See, Openings/Page B2