Published Mar-16-2011
The manufacturing industry suffered the worst full-year job loss in 2010 (-40), down for the fourth straight year. The educational and health services industry provided the best full-year job gain in 2010 (+50). This Baker County industry added workers every year, without fail, over the past decade. The vast majority of workers in "educational and health services" work in health and social service fields, not education, since only private-sector educators are included in this category. Most Baker County educators work in the public sector and are counted in the local government category. On an annual average basis, local government lost 30 positions in 2010.
Mining and logging, which employed as many as 80 people in 2001 and 2002, fell to an average of merely 10 workers in 2010. If Baker County loses many more of these jobs, we will be forced to combine this segment of the economy with some other industry in future summaries.
In 2010, Union County's annual average job counts retreated for the third consecutive year and reached their lowest point since 1998 (Graph 2).
The construction and leisure and hospitality industries suffered the worst full-year job losses in 2010 (-40). For construction, that was the third down year in a row. The state government sector provided the best full-year job gain in 2010 (+70). More than half of all state jobs in Union County are at Eastern Oregon University, and EOU's climbing enrollment pushed those employment numbers higher. (For statistical purposes, even student workers count as state employees.)
Union County's manufacturing industry broke a string of three losing years by employing an average of 50 more workers in 2010. While that only scratches the surface of the 560 factory jobs lost in the prior three years, it's worth noting that, throughout Oregon, only Umatilla County added more factory jobs than Union County in 2010.
In 2010, Wallowa County's total nonfarm payroll employment averaged 2,360, unchanged from 2009 (Graph 3).
Four industries - manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, information, and leisure and hospitality - subtracted an average of 10 workers apiece in 2010. For Wallowa County's manufacturers, it was the fourth consecutive annual job loss.
The professional and business services industry provided the best full-year job gain in 2010 (+20). Professional and business services, along with financial activities and educational and health services, have yet to record a full-year job loss in Wallowa County since the new industry classification system came into being in 2001.
Government employment was unchanged from 2009 to 2010 at all three levels - federal, state, and local.
