NEWS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Manufacturing, hospitality among worst hit industries
Editor’s Note
This is the third in a fi ve-
part series by EO Media
Group looking at the issue of
the lack of workers for jobs
in Central and Eastern Ore-
gon — why workers are not
returning to previously held
jobs and how businesses are
pivoting to function without
being fully staff ed.
By JAYSON JACOBY, SAMANTHA
O’CONNER and ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
BAKER CITY — Tyler
Brown’s family owns one
restaurant in Baker City that
hasn’t served a meal since
before the first COVID-
19 case was confirmed in
Baker County.
But the Browns’ challenges
to keep enough workers to run
their two other restaurants are
so daunting that they can’t
begin to plan the reopening
of the closed business.
That’s the Sumpter Junc-
tion restaurant, off Campbell
Street near Interstate 84. The
Browns closed the restaurant
in March 2020. Inside rest the
memories of customers who
once frequented the restaurant,
told quietly by a single butter
knife resting on the edge of a
booth table.
A newsstand is stacked
high with Baker City Her-
ald issues blaring the head-
line “Coronavirus Closures.”
They’re dated March 14, 2020.
It was three days before Gov.
Kate Brown banned din-
ing inside restaurants. It was
the last paper delivered to
Sumpter Junction.
During much of the rest of
that year, and continuing into
2021, the number of custom-
ers at Baker County’s vari-
ous restaurants was limited
due to the county’s COVID-
19 risk level.
Those restrictions meant
it wasn’t feasible to reopen
Sumpter Junction, Tyler
Brown said.
Risk levels and restau-
rant limits ended June 30,
but Brown said it remains a
struggle to keep a suffi cient
workforce to operate Barley
Brown’s Brew Pub and Tap
House, separate establish-
ments, both owned by the
family’s Windmill Enterprises
LLC, on Main Street in down-
town Baker City.
In fact, Brown said the situ-
ation has worsened in the past
month or so since the gover-
nor required people to wear
masks in most public indoor
settings, including restaurants.
Brown said he has lost a
couple employees who sim-
ply refuse to continue work-
ing while required to wear a
mask throughout their shift.
“I know it’s frustrating for
everyone,” he said.
Wearing masks isn’t the
only thing that discourages
workers, Brown said.
It’s also stressful for
employees to enforce the man-
date with customers, some of
whom refuse to comply.
“It definitely wears on
(employees),” Brown said.
In addition, Brown said
he recently had four employ-
ees, all of whom are fully
vaccinated, test positive for
COVID-19.
Although none had severe
symptoms, they had to miss
work for 10 days, which
forced a reduction in his
restaurants’ hours.
The surge in COVID-19
cases driven by the more
contagious delta variant has
aff ected other restaurants in
Baker City.
Dairy Queen, for instance,
posted a sign on its win-
dow stating that the restau-
rant would be closed for
two weeks, starting Sept.
3, due to staffi ng shortages
resulting from COVID-19.
Dairy Queen is slated to
reopen, with regular hours,
on Sept. 18.
Some employers have
attributed the workforce
shortage to expanded fed-
eral unemployment payments.
But even though those ben-
efi ts ended in early Septem-
ber, Brown said he’s not opti-
mistic that this will result in
an infl ux of potential workers.
The scarcity of workers
has had an obvious eff ect on
the restaurant sector, with
many businesses, in Baker
City and elsewhere, reducing
hours, and in many cases clos-
ing altogether on some days.
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Restaurateur and business owner Tyler Brown poses for a
photo Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021, inside Sumpter Junction,
one of his restaurants, in Baker City. The establishment has
been closed since March 2020 following statewide shutdown
orders that shuttered businesses across the state to fi ght the
pandemic. Sumpter Junction has yet to reopen due to a lack
of workers.
Out of woodwork
Hungry for workers
Among Eastern Ore-
gon counties, Baker County
saw the largest percentage
decrease of workers employed
in the leisure and hospitality
industry, dropping nearly
17%, or 120 workers, between
July 2019 and July 2021. Har-
ney County saw an increase of
3%, or 10 workers during the
same time period, and Uma-
tilla County saw the largest
total decrease of employment
in the sector, losing 180 jobs
from July 2019 to July 2021.
Across all industries in
Eastern Oregon, leisure and
hospitality saw the biggest
decrease in employment from
July 2019 to July 2021, drop-
ping 8.2% from its 2019 lev-
els for a total loss of 570 jobs.
The second hardest hit indus-
try was manufacturing, which
saw a 6.6% decrease along the
same time period for a total
loss of 570 jobs as well. Com-
pared to the rest of the state in
regards to employment, how-
ever, the leisure and hospital-
ity industries were in far less
dire straits in Eastern Oregon
— Oregon overall saw nearly
a 20% decrease in employ-
ment within the sector; far
above any other industry with
regards to job losses.
Other Eastern Oregon
counties didn’t fare much bet-
ter. Union registered a 10.3%
drop in leisure and hospitality
workers since July 2019. Mal-
heur County, which borders
Idaho and remained open for
Among the company’s
techniques was setting up an
electronic reader board on
Campbell Street, Baker City’s
busiest thoroughfare, adver-
tising a job fair at the factory
on Aug. 18.
“We found that to be suc-
cessful,” Delong said.
She said she hopes that the
end of the federal unemploy-
ment payments will persuade
more people to apply for jobs
at the Baker City plant.
Behlen’s goal is to add
about 40 workers, to a total
of 150, by the end of 2021.
“Our approach has been
to broaden community out-
reach through communication
and to best utilize our current
advertising resources and sim-
ply engaging current employ-
ees to encourage friends and
family to apply,” Delong said.
“Fortunately, Behlen Coun-
try off ers excellent benefi ts
and competitive wages. This
does give us slight edge over
other employers not able to
off er such benefi ts. We are
not there yet, there is a lot of
work to do.”
Delong said demand for
the company’s products has
continued to increase, “and
we don’t foresee any kind of
decline anytime in the future.”
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Diner booths sit empty on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021, at the
Sumpter Junction restaurant in Baker City. The restaurant has
had to remain closed due to a lack of workers.
much of the pandemic, saw a
9.75% decrease in the sector,
while Umatilla County saw
a 6.8% drop, beating out the
regional average. Surpris-
ingly, Wallowa County saw
only a marginal decrease from
its July 2019 numbers; it lost
just 10 jobs.
Unsurprisingly, the man-
ufacturing jobs lost aren’t
aff ected by seasonal employ-
ment changes normally seen
in the leisure and hospitality
industries. Still, manufactur-
ing in Eastern Oregon lost 200
jobs from the start of the pan-
demic in March 2020.
Morrow County saw an
8.4% decrease in workers in
the manufacturing industry
since July 2019; a drop of 160
workers. Not to be outdone,
Umatilla County registered a
neat 10% decrease of workers
within the same sector, within
the same time period, num-
bering 340 lost jobs. Baker
and Union counties saw a 5%
decrease in the sector during
the same period, correspond-
ing to 30 and 70 workers lost,
respectively.
At Behlen Mfg. Co.’s
plant in Baker City, where
110 employees weld and oth-
erwise assemble gates, pan-
els, troughs and other live-
stock equipment, maintaining
a full workforce during the
pandemic has been “chal-
lenging,” said Stacy Delong,
the plant’s human resources
manager.
Only 30 jobs were lost in
the Baker County manufactur-
ing industry from July 2019
to July 2021, representing a
5% decrease.
However, Delong said
Behlen, a Nebraska com-
pany that opened its Baker
City factory in 1996, has been
“fairly successful recruiting
new applicants the last cou-
ple of months.”
Another of Baker City’s
larger manufacturing employ-
ers is Marvin Wood Products.
The company, which
employs about 170 workers at
its factory, would like to hire
about 30 more employees,
plant manager Sandi Fuller
said in June of this year.
To entice people to apply
for jobs, Marvin Wood Prod-
ucts earlier this year boosted
its entry level wage to $17.73
per hour, plus a 50 cent bonus
for people who accept rotat-
ing shifts, and other incentives
including signing bonuses of
$500 and up to $1,500 to help
people move to Baker City.
Shelly Cutler, executive
director of the Baker County
Chamber of Commerce, said
she recently heard “positive
feedback” from some busi-
nesses that have struggled
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to retain their workforce,
although she said she doesn’t
know of any local restaurants
that are fully staff ed.
Cutler cautioned that
she believes the county is
in the “very early stages of
recovery.”
She is optimistic the ces-
sation of federal jobless ben-
efi ts, combined with higher
wages and incentives some
businesses are off ering, will
entice people to reenter the
workforce.
Cutler also said she has
been sending an increasing
number of relocation pack-
ets to people who might be
interested in moving to Baker
County — including younger
people who would need a job.
Anna Johnson, a senior
economic analyst at Oregon
Employment Department,
wrote that diffi cult-to-fi ll posi-
tions were largely unrelated
to the pandemic.
“The phrase ‘no one wants
to work anymore’ was already
a common reason given for
why vacancies were diffi cult
to fi ll,” Johnson wrote. “Now,
with lack of applicants and
lack of qualifi ed candidates
still being a major factor in
hiring diffi culties, the reason
has expanded to become ‘no
one wants to work anymore
… because of high unemploy-
ment insurance benefi ts.’ ”
Johnson reported that
between April and June, only
14% of diffi cult-to-fi ll vacan-
cies had relatively high job-
less benefi ts reported as the
primary reason employers had
trouble fi lling job openings.
Johnson also noted leisure
and hospitality was the top
industry for the pandemic-re-
lated, diffi cult-to-fi ll vacan-
cies. Among the hardest to fi ll
jobs were restaurant cooks.
Reasons for the vacancies
vary — among those off ered
up include lack of child care,
high unemployment benefi t
pay and low wages at lei-
sure and hospitality jobs.
According to the report, the
number of employers citing
low wages as the reason for
the vacancies grew to 15% in
spring 2021.
Sturgeon Electric Company,
Inc.
Toth & Associates
Golden Valley East
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