A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 2021
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BRIEFING
Oregon data shows
permanent layoffs
Oregon shed an as-
tonishing 271,000 jobs
in the first month of the
pandemic as the state’s
jobless rate spiked to an
unprecedented 13.2%.
The vast majority of
those job losses, though,
were classified as tempo-
rary. Workers anticipated
going back to their old
jobs as the pandemic re-
ceded. And, through Feb-
ruary, Oregon had recov-
ered slightly more than
half the jobs it initially
lost as the jobless rate
dropped to 6.1%.
Even as the state
steadily reopens, though,
Oregon is still record-
ing an average of more
than 7,000 layoffs a week
— double the pace of
weekly job loss before the
pandemic.
Especially worrying
to economists is that a
greater share of these
layoffs are permanent,
meaning that workers
don’t expect they’ll ever
go back to their old jobs.
In February, 43% of laid-
off workers classified their
job loss as permanent.
That’s the highest share
since the pandemic began.
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Biden tells execs U.S. needs to invest, Price of
lead in computer chips amid shortage houses in
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BY TOM KRISHER AND ALEXANDRA JAFFE
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Joe
Biden used a virtual meeting with cor-
porate leaders about a global shortage
of semiconductors to push Monday
for his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan,
telling them that the U.S. should be the
world’s computer chip leader.
“We need to build the infrastructure
of today, not repair the one of yester-
day,” he told the group of 19 executives
from the technology, chip and automo-
tive industries. “China and the rest of
the world is not waiting, and there’s no
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reason why Americans should wait.”
He said the country hasn’t made big
investments to stay ahead of global
competitors, and it needs to step up
its game.
Biden made an appearance at the
meeting between administration offi-
cials and company leaders held to dis-
cuss developing a stronger U.S. com-
puter chip supply chain. The meeting
came as the global chip shortage con-
tinued to plague a wide array of in-
dustries.
CEOs of AT&T, Dell, Ford, Gen-
eral Motors, Stellantis — formerly Fiat
Chrysler — Intel, Northrop Grum-
man, and others were scheduled to
attend.
But industry experts say there’s lit-
tle they can do to stem the shortage,
which has delayed a new iPhone and
forced automakers to temporarily shut
factories because they’re running short
of the multiple computers needed to
run engines, transmissions, brakes and
other essential features.
The U.S. has only 12% of the world’s
semiconductor factory capacity, down
from 37% in 1990, according to the
Semiconductor Industry Association.
Digimarc CEO
retires abruptly
Digimarc CEO Bruce
Davis, who has led the
Beaverton technology
company since 2001, sud-
denly retired Monday.
Digimarc did not ex-
plain Davis’ sudden exit
but said his retirement “is
unrelated to the compa-
ny’s financial reporting
and business perfor-
mance, nor was his deci-
sion to leave due to any
disagreement with the
company’s operations,
policies or practices.”
In a statement Mon-
day, Davis said “It’s time
for a change.” Davis was
68 at the time of Digi-
marc’s last report to
shareholders in March.
Founded in 1995, Digi-
marc is one of just two
publicly traded technol-
ogy companies still based
in Oregon.
Digimarc currently mar-
kets an invisible bar code
that computers can read
in a retail checkout line but
that people cannot see.
Digimarc has had lim-
ited success popularizing
its products, though, or
establishing a profitable
business.
Uber seeks drivers,
offers incentives
Uber is offering
sign-up bonuses and
other incentives for driv-
ers as it faces record de-
mand. The San Francisco
ride-hailing company
said Monday that total
monthly bookings, in-
cluding food delivery
and passenger service,
reached an all-time high
in March.
In a government fil-
ing, the company said
demand for ride-hailing,
which plunged during
coronavirus lockdowns
last year, has recovered
more quickly than ex-
pected as daily COVID-19
vaccinations exceed 3
million per day in the U.S.
Some people are still
avoiding public trans-
portation out of infection
fears, potentially boosting
demand for services like
Uber and Lyft further.
Passenger bookings
last month reached the
highest level since March
2020, when spiking in-
fection rates began to
shut the country down.
Bookings last month hit
an annual run rate of $30
billion.
— Bulletin wire reports
Clemente Biomechanics and Biorobotics Lab
The X-4 robot was made to mimic lizard movements.
Nature’s design echoed
in unnatural package
Robotic lizards may play a role in disaster surveillance, researchers imagine
BY DALVIN BROWN • The Washington Post
Australian researchers have created a robotic lizard that
can scale vertical walls just like the actual animal.
Smaller, lighter-weight and simpler to build than machine
versions of many other animals, lizards have perfected
how to crawl vertically, making them an ideal base for
future surveillance machines, said Christofer Clemente, the
University of the Sunshine Coast’s team supervisor who has
been developing robotic reptiles since 2017.
“A lizard is a really good place
to start because they find one of
the optimal climbing configura-
tions. A lot of the time, nature has
solved the problems for us,” Cle-
mente said.
The team named their latest
invention X-4 and published a
scientific paper on their findings
recently.
To figure out how reptiles
climbed walls, the team captured
two lizard species and filmed
them walking.
The university researchers built
an agile contraption about the
size of an average climbing lizard.
These days, it blindly crawls
up walls until it gets close to the
ceiling, at which point it is pro-
grammed to stop, the research-
ers said. It remains a prototype
that they imagine could make
for a good communications ro-
bot. Perhaps it could climb trees
and telephone poles to extend
the range of Wi-Fi networks.
They also suspect that it would
do well in search-and-rescue
scenarios.
“In a disaster zone, you could
send these robots in, and they can
just crawl around the structure
and look for survivors,” Clem-
ente said. “If anyone has a mobile
phone, they can connect to the
robot and send out a ping of their
location.”
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Bend area
continues
upward
BY SUZANNE ROIG
The Bulletin
No doubt — it’s a seller’s market right
now.
In some Central Oregon locations,
it could take less than a week to sell a
home.
Real estate agents are earning their
keep culling through multiple offers as
real estate prices continue to climb. And
they’re working to manage the expecta-
tions of buyers, said Lester Friedman, a
Coldwell Banker Bain broker.
In Bend, the median sales price for
March was $590,000 , up $15,000 over the
prior month and up more than $100,000
from the same time the year before.
In Redmond, the price of a single-
family home sold in March was
$412,000, up $49,000 from February and
$73,000 from March 2020, according to
the Beacon Report for Central Oregon.
There is a tremendous amount of cash
buyers out shopping, and they’re put-
ting down mega down payments, said
Donnie Montagner, owner of the Bea-
con Appraisal Group of Redmond in
his monthly report. The market is more
solid than the last boom in 2005 and
2006, he said.
The rising prices are the result of
more people moving to Central Oregon
and low interest rates, Montagner said.
“It’s basically a case of supply and de-
mand,” said Friedman, a broker with 21
years of experience. “Central Oregon is a
great place to live and that’s what is driv-
ing up demand. We’re on everyone’s list
as a great place to live.”
Inventory is also low, Friedman said.
On April 1, there were 118 town homes,
condominiums and single-family homes
available for sale. A year ago there were
491 homes for sale, and in 2009, follow-
ing the financial crisis, there were 1,627
homes for sale.
The Beacon Report uses the median
sales price, which is the midpoint value
of all transactions in a month.
The robust real estate market mirrors
the national front where about a week’s
worth of homes are on the market. In
February, the month where data are
most current, the median sales price for
new homes was $349,400, up from the
median price of $331,800 the same time
the year before, according to the U.S.
Census Bureau monthly residential sales
report. February’s median home prices
are slightly down nationwide, compared
to the month before when the median
price was $353,200, according to the
Census Bureau.
Montagner said in an email that the
in-migration is affecting sales prices in
Redmond, which is putting upward pres-
sure on prices as more people look for al-
ternatives to the Bend housing market.
In Sunriver, the inventory of homes
for sale also was about a week’s worth
of inventory, and the median sales price
was $775,000 in March.
“There’s definitely an increase in the
smaller markets,” Montagner said. “The
upper-end products in Redmond are
pushing median price. What’s interest-
ing is that happened in Bend last July
and then Bend stayed the course.”
Reporter: 541-633-2117, sroig@bendbulletin.com
Pot consumers become sought-after demographic
BY TIFFANY KARY
Bloomberg
Companies across industries
are chasing an attractive new
demographic. These dream
customers are more likely to
own pets and to love fashion,
to want kids and to consider
starting their own businesses.
They also make quite a bit of
money — and are still spend-
ing it during the pandemic.
Who is this ideal mys-
tery consumer? None other
than the cannabis user, once
viewed as an anti-materialistic
layabout.
Uber Technologies Inc.
hired cannabis advertiser Fyllo
late last year in its first attempt
to specifically target pot users
when advertising its food-de-
livery service, Uber Eats. And
it’s not just about serving peo-
ple who have the munchies
after smoking marijuana, says
Uber’s global head of media,
Travis Freeman.
“A cannabis consumer is
younger than the normal con-
sumer, has more disposable
income; they are busier than
most, they are working all the
time, exercising all the time,
going on adventures all the
time,” Freeman said. The re-
sults have been good: Uber has
found that cannabis users are
more likely to watch and com-
plete video ads than the aver-
age consumer.
“We’re seeing a lot more
mainstream brands,” Fyllo
Chief Operating Officer Katie
Ford said of the new breed of
customer seeking out its ser-
vices. “Some of the biggest al-
cohol companies want to target
the cannabis consumer. ”
An MRI-Simmons survey
from 2020 showed that peo-
ple who consumed cannabis
were 22% more likely than
non-cannabis users to seek out
variety in their everyday lives,
32% more likely to want to be
first to try new products and
services, and 25% more likely
to make impulse purchases.
They’re also good at influenc-
ing: They’re 27% more likely
to keep social media feeds up-
dated and 25% more likely to
share their opinions by posting
ratings or reviews.
That has Corporate Amer-
ica’s attention. A November
survey by Forrester Consulting
commissioned by Fyllo that
talked to marketing executives
at large U.S. companies showed
that 82% were interested or
very interested in having more
insights into medical cannabis
consumption. Likewise, 77%
would be interested in under-
standing recreational cannabis
consumption and 76% would
be interested in CBD product
consumption insights .