Page 4
The INDEPENDENT, December 6, 2000
Business Notes_____________________________ _______________
Oregon employers still have difficulty finding qualified employees
one occupational group. Sur
vey respondents indicated they
had the most difficulty filling
regular, year-round manage
ment, professional, production,
construction and agricultural
job openings. Sales, service,
ployers. Two-thirds of all pri computer-related and clerical
vate-sector employers (almost job openings were somewhat
60,000) tried to hire employees easier to fill.
during the 12 months prior to
This hiring difficulty was sim
the survey. Over one-third of
these recently-hiring employ ilar across all reaions of the
ers reported having a high lev state, but varied somewhat by
Computer-related
el of difficulty filling either regu industry.
lar, year-round openings or jobs were mentioned as hard to
seasonal openings in at least fill by a larger share of survey
Many private-sector employ
ers in Oregon have had difficul
ty filling openings during the
past year, according to a recent
Oregon Employment Depart
ment survey of Oregon em
respondents in the manufactur
ing industry and in the finance,
insurance and real estate in
dustry than in other industries.
Responses indicating that pro
fessional jobs were hard to fill
were concentrated in the serv
ices industry. Sales jobs re
ceived more frequent mentions
as hard to fill by employers in
the wholesale and retail trade
industry. Production jobs were
mentioned most frequently by
respondents in the manufactur
ing industry.
Over half of private-sector
respondents feel that the “na-
W est Oregon juggles power supply costs, options
By Jim Buxton
Congress in 1936 created
an agency known as the Rural
Electrification Administration
(REA), to provide loans to bring
electric power to rural areas,
and in 1946 to bring tele
phones to rural America. The
Agency is presently known as
Rural Utilities Service (RUS).
It was difficult for private
companies to bring power to
rural areas due to the miles of
line that had to be built to sup
ply few customers. People in
companies to locate in urban
areas to do business.
Until now, WOEC’s focus
has been electric power. Now,
it is studying the possibility of
History is repeating itself getting involved in high-speed
with the coming of the Internet. telecommunications. This is
Private companies find it much worth watching. Manager Rus
more profitable to provide high sell Green has written an arti
speed Internet access to popu cle on this subject in the up
lated areas. High-speed ac coming Ruralite magazine.
In November Board action,
cess to the Internet has be
come important because more the directors decided to wait
and more commerce is con until after the December 12
ducted over the Internet. No Bonneville Power Administra
longer is it necessary for many tion (BPA) meeting to see what
rate structures are being pro
posed. WOEC is a member of
Pacific Northwest Generating
The first meeting will be held Cooperative (PNGC), which
December 6 from 7:00 to 8:30 means it can either purchase
pm at Camp 18 Restaurant, lo power directly from BPA or re
cated on Highway 26 at Mile ceive a “slice” of a block of
post 18. A second meeting is power purchased by PNGC
planned for December 7 in from BPA. It is generally antici
Seaside at the Pig ‘N Pancake pated that a larger purchase
Restaurant, 323 Broadway. would command a better price,
That meeting begins at 8:30 but PNGC is wondering how
BPA will treat the “Slicers.”
a.m.
The tunnel will be limited to Slicers may be treated fairly,
one lane during the majority of but costs may be higher. The
the work with traffic controlled first “Off Ramp," or opportunity
by flaggers. Full closure of the for WOEC to back out of the
tunnel is expected for approxi “slice” deal comes during the
mately four nights between 30 days after the BPA meeting.
If BPA actually meets on
8:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.
schedule, the deadline will be
January 12.
this area enjoy electric power
since the formation of West
Oregon Electric Cooperative
(WOEC) in 1944.
Sunset tunnel repairs scheduled
Motorists headed to the
coast should anticipate lane re
strictions and some overnight
closures on U.S. 26 beginning
next month as crews perform
additional structural repairs to
the Sunset Tunnel.
The approximately $150,000
project is expected to begin in
mid-December and be com
pleted by no later than January
15. The Oregon Department of
Transportation will hold two
public meetings to explain the
repair work, provide construc
tion schedules and discuss po
tential traffic impacts.
Rabies clinic at Hum ane Society
A low cost rabies clinic will
be held in St. Helens at the Hu
mane Society/County Animal
Control Shelter at 2084 Oregon
Street on Saturday, December
9, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Shots
will be given by Dr. John Evans
of Midway Veterinary Hospital.
A second clinic will be Satur
day, January 27 and a third is
scheduled February 24 (same
hours, price, location). The cost
is $6.00 for rabies shots. Most
other shots are available. Mi
crochips will also be available
for your pets.
All dogs must be on leashes
and under their owners’ control;
cats must be suitably con
tained.
For more information, call
Columbia Humane Society at
1-503-397-4353.
New ttdhq
Two people needed
for Fair Board seats
Two positions on the Colum
bia County Fair Board will be
open in January 2001. Anyone
interested in becoming a mem
ber, please call the Fair office
at 503-543-4231. The next Fair
Board meeting is December 11
at 7:00 p.m. in the 4-H Building
at the fairgrounds.
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increase understanding of the
specific work force issues they
face. During this period of rela
tively low unemployment rates
in parts of Oregon and contin
ued industrial transition in other
parts, the survey sought to go
beyond the “hard data” to find
out what employers are strug
gling with, what skills their em
ployees are lacking, and what
they want from the work force
development system.
The findings above, and
many more, are included in a
report that is now available in
electronic format and in print.
The electronic format docu
ment is available through the
OLMIS Web site: <www.olmis.
org/Publications/> in both Acro
bat Reader (PDF) and HTML
formats. The printed version of
the report is available by con
tacting Curtis Thrapp at 503-
947-1204 or 1-800-327-3710,
ext. 71204; by fax at 503-947-
1210 or by e-mail at Curtis.M.
Thrapp@state.or.us.
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ture of the work” is a main fac
tor making it difficult for them to
find qualified applicants for
their most difficult-to-fill occu
pations. Low pay, lack of bene
fits, few career opportunities
and lack of full-time work are
somewhat less commonly cited
factors. Location was men
tioned more frequently as a
main factor by respondents in
several rural regions.
One-third or more of private-
sector respondents said that
difficulty finding qualified work
ers had lowered productivity,
increased cost of recruitment,
reduced product or service
quality, lowered minimum qual
ifications for applicants or re
duced output or sales; howev
er, almost one-third of respon
dents said difficulty finding
qualified workers had not no
ticeably affected their organiza
tions.
The Employment Depart
ment undertook the survey of
Oregon employers in order to
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VERNONIA C.A.T.V., INC.