APRIL 2008: INDICATORS
Construction builds up Union County’s economy
No one would mistake the peaceful La Grande area for booming
Bend, but Union County has quietly been growing too. Nonfarm
employment in the county reached 10,550 in 2007, a record high.
Development of the Elkhorn Valley Wind Farm and other projects
created a 19% surge in construction jobs last year. Elsewhere,
the health-services industry added workers to staff local
residential care facilities. Retail businesses also did their
fair share of new hiring. However, prospects for 2008 are more
restrained. Construction is substantially complete on the wind
farm, so job-count momentum from that event has passed. Eastern
Oregon University is confronting layoffs as part of an
institutional reorganization. Finally, Union County, like much
of Oregon, could be hurt by the federal government’s
failure to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community
Self-Determination Act, which shared federal revenues to help
finance rural schools and roads.
Jason Yohannan,
regional economist
WorkSource Oregon Employment Department
www.QualityInfo.org
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