Business
AgLife
B
Thursday, May 26, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Price
increases
negate
wage
hikes
Inflation taking
a bigger bite of
Oregonians’
paychecks
Dick Mason/The Observer
By MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
SALEM — Oregonians’
wages continue to soar —
but inflation is rising even
faster.
“The average Orego-
nian’s purchasing power is
lower today than it was a
year ago. Our standard of
living is declining,” Josh
Lehner of the Oregon Office
of Economic Analysis told
lawmakers recently while
delivering the state’s quar-
terly revenue forecast.
Average wages in
Oregon are up 17% since
the start of the pandemic,
according to federal
and state data. But price
increases have gobbled up
most of those gains — and
over the past year, inflation
has risen so fast that most
workers are effectively get-
ting pay cuts.
Adjusting for inflation,
Lehner said Oregonians’
“real” wages are down
3% in the past year. He
said four out of every five
workers are losing ground
to rising prices.
“Inflation hurts our
low-income neighbors the
most, and those on fixed
income,” Lehner said.
“They’re living paycheck to
paycheck. They’re spending
every single dollar they
earn, and sometimes more.”
Rising prices are begin-
ning to eat into consumer
spending, threatening to
throw the economy back
into recession.
Earlier this month,
for example, Dutch Bros
warned that higher gas
prices are leaving its cus-
tomers with less discre-
tionary income, reducing
the frequency of their visits
to the drive-thru chain. The
news sent the Oregon com-
pany’s stock tumbling.
Even so, state economists
said the consensus among
the Oregon businesses they
consult with is that a reces-
sion isn’t likely. And there
are hopeful signs that infla-
tion may be easing.
Used car prices, for
example, rose 50% from
the start of the pandemic
through the end of 2021.
But in recent months
they’ve fallen modestly.
And while gas prices
remain high, the rate of
increase has slowed dra-
matically. That may not be
much relief to drivers weary
of paying $4 a gallon — or
even $5 — but it suggests a
new equilibrium.
With the Federal Reserve
raising interest rates to tame
inflation by cooling the
economy — also raising the
cost of borrowing money,
such as for a home mort-
gage or ringing up a credit
card balance — Lehner said
there are hopeful signs the
worst of the price increases
may soon be in the rear-
view mirror.
“There is an opportu-
nity for this to play out in
that soft-landing scenario,”
he said.
Johanna Pettey, the store manager of Umpqua Bank in La Grande, displays the Patriot Award she received from the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve program
on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. Pettey is shown with Jack Johnson, right, chair of Area Six of the Oregon Committee of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, and Capt.
Troy Bagnoll, a senior staff member of La Grande’s 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry.
‘A HUGE DEAL’
Umpqua Bank store manager saluted
for her support of the National Guard
By DICK MASON
The Observer
I
SLAND CITY — A civilian making sacrifices to boost La Grande’s
National Guard unit, the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry, is being saluted by
a Department of Defense agency.
Johanna Pettey, the store manager of Umpqua Bank in
Island City, was presented with the Employer Support of the
Guard and Reserve program’s Patriot Award on Wednesday,
May 18. The award recognizes employers and their managers
whose help make it possible for people to be employed and
serve in the National Guard or another reserve branch of the
Armed Forces.
Pettey was nominated by Pfc. Eduardo Bedolla, a member of
La Grande’s National Guard unit. Bedolla, in his letter asking
that Pettey, his supervisor, be given the ESGR Patriot Award,
praised her for making it easier for him to take leave from his
position at Umpqua Bank to fulfill his military commitments.
“Johanna has been an awesome boss. She really understands
that my military obligations come first, and she tries her best
to help with any question regarding my military leave from
Umpqua Bank,” he wrote.
Bedolla also said that at times he feels bad about leaving but
that Pettey always reassures him that she understands and that
his job will be there for him when he returns.
“Johanna has been great to work with and her support means
so much,” wrote Bedolla.
The Patriot Award was presented to Pettey by Jack Johnson,
chair of Area Six of the Oregon Committee of Employer Sup-
port of the Guard and Reserve. Johnson said Bedolla is cur-
rently out on a military mission.
“I know that this places additional stress on his supervisor
and the total workforce at Umpqua Bank,” Johnson said.
The ESGR is an agency within the Department of Defense,
and Johnson is one of its 100 volunteers in Oregon
Johnson was accompanied at the award presentation by
Capt. Troy Bagnall, a senior staff member of La Grande’s
National Guard unit. Bagnall said the significance of help from
employers like Umpqua Bank cannot be underestimated in
terms of what it means to the National Guard.
“This is a huge deal,” Bagnall said.
Dick Mason/The Observer
Johanna Pettey, the store manager of Umpqua Bank in La Grande, center,
talks with Jack Johnson, right, of the Employer Support of the Guard and
Reserve, and Capt. Troy Bagnoll, a senior staff member of La Grande’s 3rd
Battalion, 116th Cavalry, on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. Pettey is holding
the Patriot Award she just received from the ESGR program.
Funds to help protect Oregon farmland
State receives $6.7
million to protect
high-value farmland
from development
tion and pass it on to
future generations at a
much larger scale than
at any time in Oregon’s
history,” said Nellie
McAdams, executive
director of the Oregon
Agricultural Trust.
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
The money will go
Capital Press
toward helping Oregon
farmers create nearly
PORTLAND —
15,000 acres of working
USDA’s Natural
land conservation ease-
ments, which the
Resources Conser-
vation Service has
Coalition of Oregon
awarded Oregon
Land Trusts defines
a record $6.7 mil-
as “voluntary legal
lion to help protect
agreements that
working farmlands
remove develop-
ment rights and
from development
help protect soil
or fragmentation.
McAdams
health and water
“With this
quality while
allocation, and
keeping land in farming
hopefully future allo-
cations, we’ll be able to
and ranching.”
help protect (farmers’)
See, Farms/Page B2
land, keep it in produc-
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in 2022 awarded Oregon a record $6.7 million to help
protect working farmlands from development or fragmentation.