(Photo by Shridhar Gupta on Unsplash)
Experts Discuss the Central Oregon Job Market
In April 2020, the State of Oregon reached a new record: an unemployment rate of 14.7 percent. Due to many factors, including the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Oregonians, along with plenty of Americans from around the country, were struggling to find and keep work. As of April 2023, that number is down to just 4 percent, with Deschutes County specifically coming in at 3.9 percent.
While the numbers look much better than they did in 2020, local businesses and individuals are facing a job market that has rapidly changed, and will likely continue to change in the future. From wages and remote work to just the cost of living, there are many factors that continue to influence the state of employment in Central Oregon.
Cascade Business News spoke to three local experts to learn more about the factors affecting the local job market; Quinn Hanson, the division manager of G.A. Rogers Central Oregon; Chris Petty, the Bend franchise manager of Express Employment Professionals; and Sam Lambert, vice president of Mid Oregon Personnel.
The biggest factor hitting the Central Oregon job market is one that all three experts agree upon: the cost of living in Bend and the availability of workforce housing. “The cost of living versus the average pay rate is a challenge, here,” Hanson said. Adding a bit of nuance, he continued and said, “Bend over indexes in people who move here without needing a job, or who are looking for remote work. This increases the need for all kinds of social and public services, but doesn’t contribute to the economy in the same way.”
This point is echoed by Lambert, who said, “The cost of living, specifically housing and transportation, has created a situation where it is difficult for a person or family working full time to make it on a single income. We’ve had great success with clients who are willing to offer solutions for their employees that help to mitigate some of these costs,” adding that rideshare programs and varied compensation package options have proven effective.
Petty added to this point, explaining that when the cost of living goes up, so does competition for wages. While large corporations with nationwide financial backing can afford to pay entry-level positions higher wages, many locally owned, “mom and pop” shops can’t afford to do the same, creating an ironic moment for a town that likes to support local as much as Bend does.
A key issue with the cost of living that was brought up by all three experts was the conjunction with remote work, specifically remote work with companies from larger markets. Here is a hypothetical situation that can be commonly found in Bend: a worker from a large tech company based out of Seattle gets the opportunity to work fully remote. The worker could stay living in Seattle and deal with the higher cost of living, or they could take advantage of their newfound freedom and move to a city with a lower cost of living that still has plenty of fun amenities and outdoor recreation. If they are going to be paid the same regardless, why not move somewhere that’s cheaper and just as fun?
As it turns out, Bend just so happens to be a very popular destination for that kind of work. As Hanson puts it, “The competition is no longer the business down the street, it’s the business in the bigger market. That’s been one of the biggest changes over the years.”
The issue of Bend’s cost of living can be summed up with the following: Bend is cheap enough to attract remote workers who live off wages from higher-paying markets, but Bend is also too expensive for many people to both live and work locally. Our housing market is more realistically suited for wages coming from higher-paying markets, leaving many local workers feeling like they’ve been left high and dry.
To many people, an obvious solution would be to raise wages to match the growing cost of living. However, as Petty pointed out, this creates a situation where local businesses are boxed out of the local market because they cannot keep up with national corporations who can afford to start employees at $20 an hour or more.
During and right after the pandemic, local businesses felt this pressure. Petty added that while many large corporations were able to pivot to hybrid or fully remote models, thanks to their large financial backing providing access to the required materials and talent, many small and local businesses didn’t have the same means.
From the pandemic to wages, it’s been a tough few years for local companies when it comes to hiring and retaining employees, while larger corporations have found success. However, that doesn’t mean local businesses are dead in the water; there are certain solutions that have seen success in recent years.
Earlier, Lambert mentioned that success with hiring and employee retention can be found by offering creative solutions and benefits for employees. Hanson echoed this, mentioning how local businesses have been adding perks like Mt. Bachelor passes for signing on, or more PTO during ski season, all in an effort to retain workers. He added that some Sunriver businesses moved to a five-week PTO policy, which is unheard of when the typical policy is two weeks.
Lambert added that companies can hire and retain more employees when they have a healthy and intentional workplace culture. He also said that companies can find success when they “get creative in giving their workforce what they need to be successful.”
While these solutions can help, Hanson said not to think of them as “silver bullet” solutions. Realistically, Central Oregon will likely be dealing with hiring issues anywhere from 10 to 30 years from now.
Plus, different solutions either work or don’t work, depending on your demographic. Hanson said that he’s seen differing trends among two camps of workers: young, single professionals, and more established workers with partners or families. The new to the market, young, single professionals are often looking for hybrid or in person work, because they are looking to create professional and social connections early in their careers. More established, older employees with partners and oftentimes, young children, have taken a liking to hybrid or remote work because it can accommodate their busy family schedule. With the cost of childcare skyrocketing, many folks with kids have found that remote work was and still is a realistic solution.
While the future might look a bit unstable, it does seem like people are adjusting to the new job market, based on low unemployment rates. While issues of wages and employee retention will exist as long as our cost of living and average home price remain as high as they are, there is definitely hope for the future. The city of Bend is currently working on solutions that include a push for affordable housing and increased development of mixed-use areas, hoping to make it more realistic for workers to both work and live in Bend.
In terms of the future, Lambert said, “The next ten years are going to be exciting. AI is going to change everything from how we source employees to how work gets done. Jobs that have been a mainstay for our employment base for years will go away and new opportunities will emerge. It has never been more important to be prepared to pivot than it will be in the coming decade.”
This last point seems to be a very important one: those that can adjust to change will likely find more success than those that stick to outdated ways of thinking, and this applies to both employees and employers. Issues will come and go, technology will keep changing, and shifting social norms will continuously change what we think of as a normal workday. When the only constant is change, success can be measured in how well one can adjust to that change.
ga-rogers.com • expresspros.com/bendor • midoregonpersonnel.com
