Umatilla County job growth 3rd highest in state

This story was published Thu, Mar 18, 1999

By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - Umatilla County's economy scored big in 1998, coming in third in the state for job growth.

Umatilla County also added more jobs in 1998 than any other county outside a metropolitan area - it even beat out larger Deschutes, Douglas and Benton counties.

Economists arrived at these conclusions after getting a first-time look at state tax records from 1998. Normally, economists must rely solely on employer surveys for job growth information until they get a chance to examine the tax returns, Dallas Fridley, regional economist for the state Employment Department, said Wednesday.

"In our first look at a complete year of data, it was evident that 1998 was better than average for the Morrow-Umatilla region," Fridley said.

He added that Umatilla County "was the top performer."

For 1998, Umatilla County added 1,490 nonfarm jobs for an annual average of 26,260. That meant the county recorded 6 percent for overall job growth, coming in third behind Harney County at 9.3 percent and Sherman County at 6.1 percent.

It comes as no surprise that the majority of those new employees went to work for the county's three largest new projects - the Wal-Mart distribution center, the Umatilla Chemical Depot incinerator and the Union Pacific Railroad maintenance yard at Hinkle.

Wal-Mart hired 710 new people to the retail roster in 1998. Those jobs still count as retail positions, Fridley said, even though products are only shipped - not bought - from the 1.3 million-square-foot warehouse on Highway 395 south of Hermiston.

Construction was up by 310 jobs. The bulk of those workers are building the chemical incinerator at the depot eight miles west of town, where 3,717 tons of aging lethal nerve agent is to be burned by 2005.

In the transportation sector, Umatilla County saw jobs increase by 190. Union Pacific had a hand in hiring some of those employees to work at its expanded Hinkle railroad facility.

Government jobs also shot up in 1998 by 190 - 110 of those new workers went to work for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Fridley said.

One industry that showed a loss for 1998 was food products manufacturing, where 20 workers were laid off. But because of all the growth in other fields, that loss showed up as a blip on the screen, Fridley said.

"Food and kindred products is a volatile industry from year to year anyway, so the loss of 20 jobs is negligible - so low it doesn't even matter," Fridley said.

Morrow County's job growth ranked fifth in the state in 1998 after adding 130 nonfarm jobs for the year. The county's total annual job average was 3,060.

Most of those new employees were hired to work in the trade, services and government sectors.

 

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