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Opinion Editorials Impact of mill job losses is enormous
Impact of mill job losses is enormous
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What kind of impact will the loss of 57 mill jobs in Wallowa County have? The number might sound insignificant to those on the west side of the state, where companies come and go all the time. Fifty-seven jobs in Wallowa County, another 50 in Grant County, 91 in Harney County. What's the big deal? The impact is enormous. The governor, state legislators and our entire federal congressional delegation need to realize it and go to bat for rural economies. What west-siders in Oregon and often the state's elected representatives fail to realize is that Eastern Oregon's economy is vastly different from their own. The impact of those 57 jobs in Wallowa County, the 50 in Grant County and the 91 in Harney County amount to 2.6 percent of the nonfarm jobs in those counties. A figure of 2.6 percent of nonfarm jobs may not sound like an awful lot. But let's put that number in perspective. A 2.6 percent loss in nonfarm jobs in the Portland metro area would amount to 26,400 people out of work, according to Jason Yohannan, regional economist for the Oregon Employment Department. That's not 2,600, which in itself would be a significant number. We're talking 26,400 jobs. Imagine the outcry. Would the governor be on board to find a solution? Legislators? The congressional delegation? Of course they would. Wallowa, Grant and Harney counties have sustained a substantial hit to their economies. Sure, the housing market is taking a toll on lumber markets. But even bigger is the lack of timber available to these mills so they might be able to find other markets. Without the resource, mills can't operate. Anyone who has ever visited our forests whether they are a scientist, a hiker or a berry picker can see firsthand that they are a disaster waiting to happen. The evidence dead and dying timber is everywhere. Simply cleaning up the forests would keep mills in Wallowa, John Day or Burns operating for years. Our leaders need to help find a middle ground in the forest resource debate that would protect the future of the forests while also protecting the economies that depend on them. A 2.6 percent job loss may not seem like much at first glance, but in small counties it's devastating just as the loss of 26,400 jobs would be to the Portland area. |
