BUSINESS & AG LIFE
B2 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2022
RANGE
Continued from Page B1
the importance of treating the virtual range
and the equipment as if it were real. The
training sessions off er the opportunity to
learn and improve fi rearm techniques.
“We’re basically going to let people have
fun with it, but if they want instruction,
training or advice on how to shoot we’ll
help with that,” he said. “We can analyze
their shooting and they can also book pri-
vate training sessions with us as well.”
Sim Shot currently off ers concealed
carry classes, private training sessions and
judgmental training sessions. These drills
put the individuals in a real-world scenario,
involving anything from a traffi c stop to a
school shooting — and the instructor can
control the simulation in order to analyze
the user’s instincts and shooting skills.
“It basically puts you in a real-life envi-
ronment, where you’re looking at the screen
and we put you into that environment and
see how you respond to it,” Minarich said.
Other simulated shooting sessions
include a virtual shooting range, which
will allow Sim Shot to replicate the actual
training and tests involved in attaining
shooting qualifi cations — including a
planned simulation that emulates the Inter-
national Defensive Pistol Association’s
training model.
“We’re going to be holding concealed
carry classes here,” Minarich said. “Once
they get done with the class, we can actu-
ally put them in a simulated range environ-
ment and they can do their qualifi cations
and get familiar.”
Minarich also stated that Sim Shot
would be more than willing to off er its
OPENINGS
Continued from Page B1
“There are now more
job openings than there are
unemployed people,” said
Gail Krumenauer, econo-
mist with the employment
department.
The state had just seven
unemployed people for
every 10 job openings. Ore-
gon’s experience mirrors
what happened nationally.
“There’s just simply not
enough available workers
for this record, or near-re-
cord, level of job open-
ings,” Krumenauer said.
“This is head and shoul-
ders above where we’ve
been before.”
The turnaround is testa-
ment to the speed and scale
JOBLESS
Continued from Page B1
The December jobs
report presents a snapshot
in time, measured before
the full impact of the omi-
cron wave hit workers and
employers. And that wave
has been powerful. Infec-
tions have spread at break-
neck speed, shuttering class-
rooms, childcare facilities,
and temporarily sidelining
employees.
In early December,
roughly 46,000 adults in
Oregon didn’t work because
they were afraid of get-
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Robert Minarich, co-owner of the new simulated
gun range, Sim Shot, in Island City, demonstrates
a boar-hunting simulation on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022.
services to law enforcement for training
purposes.
Sim Shot is currently off ering bookings,
with walk-in sessions available if a bay is
open. Sessions are sold in 25- or 55-minute
increments. One person can book a half
hour session for $35, two people can book
an hour for $65 and three to four people
can book an hour-long session for $80. The
range is open Tuesday through Sunday.
Sim Shot is the only range of its kind
in the region, and the owners are open to
possibilities moving forward. With few
shooting ranges in Eastern Oregon, Sim
Shot is looking to become a popular enter-
tainment and fi rearm safety venue for
Union County and surrounding areas.
“We want to serve the entire Eastern
Oregon community,” Minarich said. “If
people want to come in from Pendleton,
Baker, Wallowa County, come on down.”
of the economic recovery.
But the worker shortage
created problems of its own.
Builders, factories,
hotels, pubs and restau-
rants all struggled to meet
customer demand for the
simple reason they couldn’t
fi nd enough workers. Hos-
pitals, nursing homes and
clinics have struggled to
fi nd staff , too.
Health care was the
largest category of job
openings last fall, according
to the employment depart-
ment’s survey, with about
28,000 vacancies. Con-
struction, retail, manufac-
turing and hospitality jobs
were next, each with around
10,000 openings.
The worker shortage pro-
duced a big spike in wages.
The state’s survey said
vacant jobs were off ering
an average hourly wage of
$21.22, up about 14% from
a year earlier — even after
adjusting for infl ation.
Higher wages are, of
course, great for workers.
But as employers bid up
what they’ll pay their
new hires, and con-
sumers bid up what they’ll
pay for products in short
supply, that feeds into the
infl ationary cycle.
And with prices rising
at an annual rate of 7%
annually, according to the
latest federal data, most
Americans are more wor-
ried about infl ation than
they are about job secu-
rity, according to the latest
survey of consumer senti-
ment by the University of
Michigan.
ting or spreading COVID-
19, according to data from
the U.S. Census Bureau’s
Household Pulse Survey.
Another 34,000 Orego-
nians didn’t work because
they had COVID-19 or were
caring for someone with
symptoms.
That’s about 80,000
people sidelined by pan-
demic health concerns in
early December, and that
doesn’t include people out
of work because of layoff s,
business closures, or child-
care duties.
By early January, that
number had shot up. More
than 104,000 Oregonians
weren’t working because
they either had COVID-19,
were caring for someone
with symptoms, or were
afraid of getting infected.
The Census cautions that
Household Pulse Survey
data is experimental, and
sample sizes can be small.
The Employment
Department says any impact
of the omicron surge on
employment won’t be seen
until the jobs report cov-
ering the month of January.
In the meantime, the agency
is urging employers to make
use of the state’s Work
Share program to reduce
layoff s during the surge.
Duncan Gans/Contributed Photo
Duncan Gans works from a coworking space called The Haven in Bend. Gans moved to Bend from the
Washington, D.C., area in August 2020 with four friends after he was able to transition to full-time
remote work during the pandemic.
REMOTE
Continued from Page B1
Nathan Bergfelt had
worked for a small cre-
ative marketing agency in
Portland for several years
before the pandemic.
The company had an
active offi ce culture that
managers believed spurred
creativity and collabo-
ration. Bergfelt said he
couldn’t have envisioned
working remotely.
But that changed when
offi ces closed in March
2020. Bergfelt and his col-
leagues soon learned that
they could do their jobs
eff ectively while working
apart. Even Bergfelt’s boss
is in the process of buying
a home in Idaho with plans
to work remotely at times
from the new house.
Bergfelt’s partner, Sarah
Roundtree, was admitted
to Penn State University
for a Ph.D. program in
counseling last year. Since
July, Bergfelt has been
working remotely perma-
nently from State College,
Pennsylvania.
Roundtree’s aspira-
tions in academia may dic-
tate where the couple will
live. But Bergfelt doesn’t
have to give up his Port-
land-based job.
“The most important
thing to me is to be with
my partner and my dog,
but both me and my
partner also want to feel
satisfi ed in our careers,”
said Bergfelt, 27. “Now
that I’ve realized through
this that I can be really sat-
isfi ed with not necessarily
being in the offi ce, I can
be much more fl exible on
where her job takes her.”
Cost-saving benefi ts
A report from LinkedIn
last fall found that more
than 30% of workers who
applied to paid U.S. job
postings on LinkedIn in
August 2021 were applying
for remote work, an indi-
cation that more workers
are seeking out fl exibility
in their work setups — and
that more employers are
off ering it.
Damon Runberg, the
Oregon Employment
Department’s regional
economist for much of
Central Oregon, said
remote work could benefi t
smaller metropolitan areas
that have suffi cient housing
for remote workers and
don’t have as many large
companies with big offi ce
footprints. However, he
said, if there is a scarcity
of housing and not enough
new construction, an
infl ux of remote workers
could drive up housing
prices, already a challenge
for Bend and other state
metros.
The LinkedIn report
found that applicants in
Bend were more likely to
apply for remote work than
applicants from any other
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city in the country. Eugene
ranked fi fth on the list.
“Yes, people are
searching out Bend for
remote work,” Runberg
said. “But also, local
people are looking for
these remote jobs because
there are a lot of benefi ts
there — the biggest being
that remote jobs tend to
pay signifi cantly higher
than the average wage
from local employers.”
Gans is among many
remote workers who have
sought out Bend.
A year and a half after
leaving Washington, D.C.,
he now owns a house in
Bend and has no plans
to leave. Two of the four
friends he moved with to
Central Oregon remain
in the city as well. Gans
travels often to visit
friends and family across
the country while working
remotely.
When he’s in Bend, he
works from a coworking
space called The Haven
that overlooks the
Deschutes River. There,
he has met numerous other
remote workers, many
of whom came to Bend
during the pandemic as
well.
“I think I would be
hesitant to ever go back
to a job that needed me
in person,” Gans said.
“Working remotely has
just made me realize that
the location is more arbi-
trary than I thought.”
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by Stella Wilder
THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2022
YOUR BIRTHDAY by Stella Wilder
Born today, you are nothing if not indepen-
dent in thought and action -- and you will not
allow yourself to be hemmed in by anyone’s
rules, regulations, expectations or instruc-
tions. It is this last, in fact, that may get you in
a good deal of hot water in your lifetime, for if
you’re not able to follow instructions then how
are you ever going to work for those who are
in positions of authority? Fortunately, you
have been endowed with such tremendous
charm that you are able, more often than not,
to win forgiveness for doing that for which
you did not first get permission.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 28
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- You may
be pulled in more than one direction today by
someone who doesn’t understand the inherent
difficulty in what’s currently going on.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) -- The “impos-
sible” isn’t quite impossible today -- but know
that you’ll be getting into something quite
complicated if you proceed as planned.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- You are
ready to give something a try that wouldn’t
have been possible as recently as yesterday. Let
others know what you’re doing.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- You are
confident that you’ll come out ahead today,
even if you have to pay more than usual for
something that is usually available for less.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- You’re tread-
ing a difficult path at this time, but you’re not
about to stop and think about it too much --
or you’ll surely reverse course!
CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- Questions
come your way rapidly today, and you must do
what you can to answer them as honestly as
possible, no matter how personal they may be.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Conceal from
others what you’re planning and you’ll be set-
ting yourself up for a difficult time in the days
to come. Transparency is key.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Accept a
challenge from a rival today and you may be
getting yourself involved in something that is
much more complex than it may seem.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- No matter
how many times someone tells you what
you’re facing is actually quite simple, you rec-
ognize difficulties not apparent to others.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -- You must
move quickly to get a new plan up and run-
ning today, for this may be your only truly
viable opportunity for quite some time.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- You
have more choices available to you today than
you may be aware of, and decisions you make
early in the day can make subsequent ones
easier.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- You
must be clear about your desires and expecta-
tions, especially when working closely with
others. Leave no one in the dark today.
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