Page 20
The INDEPENDENT, March 19, 2009
Who are the people on Columbia County’s unemployment roles?
From page 15
Columbia County in 2008, ap-
proximately 70 per cent were
male while 30 percent were fe-
male.
The greatest number of Co-
lumbia County’s 2008 unem-
ployment
insurance
(UI)
claimants were 40 to 49 years
old, with 855 recipients and 27
percent of the total. Those 50 to
59 years-old made up the sec-
ond largest grouping of UI re-
cipients with 22 percent, fol-
lowed by those 30 to 39 years
old with 22 percent.
Those with a high school
diploma or less made up nearly
three-fourths of all unemploy-
ment insurance claimants in
Columbia County in 2008 with
2,248 individuals. Individuals
with an associate’s degree had
the second largest number of
claimants with 314, followed by
those with post-secondary
coursework and no degree with
238 claimants. Claimants with
a bachelor’s degree or more
were about seven percent of
the total with 211 claimants,
and those with a vocational cer-
tification had the smallest num-
ber of claimants with 93.
The industries with the
greatest number of Columbia
County unemployment claim-
ants in 2008 were manufactur-
ing and construction, each with
around 700 claimants. Trans-
portation and warehousing had
the third largest number of Co-
lumbia County claimants with
235, followed by administration,
support and waste manage-
ment with 227, and retail trade
with 195. Not all of those who
claim unemployment benefits
worked in Columbia County.
Many Columbia County resi-
dents travel outside the area for
work and claimant numbers are
reflective of benefits paid to
residents of Columbia County,
not necessarily those working
in the county.
The occupational groups
most common among Colum-
bia County’s unemployed in
2008 are strongly correlated
47J Board awards architectural contract for schools
From page 1
stuck here (current site), in
Scappoose or Banks.” To the
question, “Can we build
schools without a bond?”
County Commissioner and Ver-
nonia citizen, Tony Hyde, re-
sponded, “No,” without elabo-
ration.
When the time for a vote
came, a motion was made to
select the Boot Site. The mo-
tion passed with board member
Ernie Smith casting the lone
vote against the site. Language
in the motion made it clear that
the Boot Site is “the first choice
for a location for new schools.”
If that site does not ultimately
work out, for any reason, the
board made it clear that they
will look at all the possible sites
again.
The board awarded a con-
tract to BOORA Architects for
architectural services for the
new schools, based on a rec-
ommendation from the commit-
tee that reviewed the architec-
tural firms who applied. BOO-
RA Architects will prepare a
comprehensive program docu-
ment defining the needs and
objectives of the proposed re-
placement K-12 school facility,
including schedules and budg-
ets.
In other business, the board:
• heard that Tom Ramsey
was hired as the new Mainte-
nance Supervisor, to replace
John Lewis who is retiring in
April;
• adopted the 2009-10
school calendar;
• adopted the budget calen-
dar for meetings, appointed
Penny Johnson to the Budget
Committee. and announced
that there are still openings on
the committee for interested
community members.
Spring Break is March 23-
27. The next meeting of the
board will be April 9, at 6:00
p.m. at the District Office.
with the most common indus-
tries of the unemployed. Con-
struction and extraction jobs
top the list of the unemployed
with 685 claimants in those oc-
cupations. Transportation and
material moving and production
jobs were second and third
most common among Colum-
bia County claimants, with 468
and 426 respectively. Office
and administrative support
workers made up another nine
per cent of claimants followed
by installation, maintenance,
and repair workers, with 205
claimants.
There were 152 Vietnam-era
veterans and 246 other veter-
ans who claimed unemploy-
ment benefits in Columbia
County in 2008. The percent-
age of Columbia County unem-
ployment claimants who were
veterans was slightly higher
than neighboring counties. In
Clatsop County, 10.8 percent of
unemployment claimants were
veterans, Tillamook County had
10.6 percent, Washington
County had 9.9 percent, and
Multnomah County had 8.2
percent.
With so many available
workers, it’s a great time to hire
and WorkSource Oregon can
help.
Council okays hiring Financial Manager
From page 4
After an executive session
held for the purpose of consid-
ering the employment of a pub-
lic employee, council returned
to the regular meeting and
unanimously approved the hir-
W illiams
M etal
F ab
ing of Susan Spicer Pond as Fi-
nance/Human Resources Man-
ager. Pond has been handling
the city’s finances as a contract
employee for the past few
months and recently helped the
city change over to new finan-
cial software.
In other business, council;
• heard an update from Ben
Fousek, the KLS Surveying
employee working with the city
to set up a GIS system. Maps
are starting to be put online
from this project.
• heard an update on Colum-
bia County Flood Unmet Needs
projects from Jim Tierney.
• approved the budget calen-
dar and were given an
overview of the 2009 budget
process by Johnson.
• approved the expenditure
of $150 in awards for an “If I
were Mayor” contest for grades
4-12 as requested by Mayor
Harrison.
• heard that OECDD (Ore-
gon Economic and Community
Development Department) has
awarded a $500,000 grant for
flood buyout program funds.
• heard that Interim Police
Chief Mike Kay successfully
completed the F.B.I’s North-
west Command College.
The next council meeting will
be held April 6, at City Hall,
starting at 7:00 p.m.
Custom Fabrication & Welding
All Metals Including
Stainless Steel & Aluminum
Alley Auto Wrecking ✮
✮ Gasoline 503-429-7581
Portable W ELDING A VAILABLE
Most parts under warranty
Open Tuesday-Saturday 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Closed Sunday and Monday
5 0 3 - 4 2 9 - 8 4 3 1
17819 Noakes Rd., Vernonia, Oregon
54372 Nehalem Hwy South, Vernonia, OR 97064
6 miles south of town on Hwy 47
Buying unwanted vehicles with clear title
As of March 3, there were
3,470 registered job seekers
living in Columbia County.
These are all looking for work
and actively utilizing Work-
Source Oregon services to find
a job. Nearly 60 percent of
those potential applicants are
claiming unemployment bene-
fits; nearly 20 percent are cur-
rently working and looking for a
better job. If you have a job
opening and need skilled work-
ers, let the WorkSource Oregon
partners help.
The annual Columbia Coun-
ty Job Fair – scheduled for
Wednesday, April 22nd from
1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at Buccini Hall
in St. Helens – is a great oppor-
tunity to recruit. Call 503-397-
4995 to register for a booth at
the Career Fair or to get per-
sonalized recruitment services
from a WorkSource Oregon ac-
count representative.
Workforce training grants
are available to businesses to
upgrade the skills of current
workers. Local businesses like
Composites Universal, Pacific
Stainless, Armstrong World In-
dustries, and MetalCraft Ma-
chine have utilized these funds
Please see page 21
WEATHER REPORT
FEBRUARY 2009
DATE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
TEMPERATURE
HI
LO
45
56
62
65
49
45
50
43
37
36
47
39
40
44
47
52
49
54
55
60
57
54
49
53
47
43
44
53
27
25
23
24
28
31
28
27
24
25
27
26
30
27
26
28
29
28
25
25
38
38
35
40
32
25
27
27
PRECIP.
AMT.
--
--
--
--
.49
.09
--
.04
.11
.15
--
.07
.03
T
--
T
T
--
--
--
.08
.02
.60
.12
.67
--
--
.04
Temperature and precipitation
amounts are from the official U.S.
weather station at the Vernonia wa-
ter plant. Measurable precipitation in
February totalled 2.51 inches.