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Erin Snelgrove Roseburg News-Review, December 21, 2005
Douglas County has many assets - a mild climate, accessibility to Interstate 5 and a steady stream of new residents. For these reasons, business leaders maintain that the potential for local job growth is high.
"We have some very, very good prospects that we are working with right now," said Ron Doan, chairman of the Douglas County Industrial Development Board. "We are definitely on the radar screen."The key to job growth, experts maintain, is diversity. From construction and retail to manufacturing and timber, there are many industries that are compatible with each other and with the resources Douglas County has to offer. Now, efforts must be taken to support existing companies and to encourage others to relocate here.
"On a scale of one to 10, we are a 7 1/2 in terms of recruiting and having a stable work force," Doan said. "I think it's important that we continue to reach out to businesses that are not currently on the landscape. It's equally important that we pay attention to the businesses that are currently here and to do everything we possibly can to encourage growth."
LEADING INDUSTRIES
Brian Rooney, regional economist for the Oregon Employment Department, said there is a fair amount of job opportunity in Douglas County. The industries showing the most growth are construction, retail, health care and professional and business services."We've seen growth in better-paying industries," he said. "Overall, I think the growth has been pretty broad based."
Examples of local companies that have advanced in recent years are Mercy Medical Center, North River Boats and Seven Feathers Hotel & Casino Resort.
At Mercy, the number of employees has swelled from about 750 to 1,289 in the past decade. The number of patient beds has also increased from 111 to 153, and will soon rise again to 175.
At North River Boats, there were about nine employees in 1997. But after Brian Brush acquired the business that same year, the number of employees has grown exponentially. There are now about 220 people working for the company in the Roseburg area.
And at Seven Feathers, which is owned by the Cow Creek Tribe of Umpqua Band of Indians, there were 35 people working for the bingo hall when it opened in 1992. Today, due to the expansion of both the hotel and the casino, there are 940 people working there.
When counting Creative Images, Rio Communications and the other businesses owned by the tribe, even more growth can be found. The tribe now employs roughly 1,300 people in Douglas County and pays them a collective salary of more than $38.6 million a year.
Lonnie Rainville, human resources director for the casino, said there are many job opportunities at Seven Feathers and at the other tribe-owned businesses. He does not see this trend declining.
"I think it will continue to grow," he said. "I don't see it slowing down anytime in the near future."
Spokesmen for these companies, and for Roseburg Forest Products, said their growth can be attributed to a few common factors. They offer competitive wages and good benefits. They provide ample training, and they recognize and promote employees who demonstrate success in their professions.
"Our wages and benefits positions us to be attractive to many prospective employees," said Jon McAmis, director of human resources and training for RFP. "We target that audience of people who are looking to enhance their current economic situation."
RECRUITING EFFORTS
Although encouraged by the growth found in Douglas County, Rooney admits that much of it is found among lower-paying industries. Call centers and retail establishments are two types of booming businesses, he said, that don't typically offer family-wage jobs.
However, Rooney contends that this type of growth is typical.
"In any growing economy, there is more growth in lower-paying jobs," he said. "Right now in Douglas County, we are seeing a mixed bag in the type of jobs that are out there."
Rooney added that some industries have declined this past year - including wood products, transportation and warehousing. About 70 layoffs have taken place in transportation and warehousing combined, which he said is a small dip.
The decline in wood products, though, can be attributed to the fire at the Murphy Plywood plant in Sutherlin last summer.
The infrastructure for each of these industries does exist in Douglas County - which is something Helga Conrad is looking to promote.
Conrad is the recruiting director for the Umpqua Economic Development Partnership. Her primary focus is to bring new industries to the area, including manufacturers, secondary wood companies and warehouses.Manufacturers, she said, would be able to offer family-wage jobs and benefits. Company benefits, she added, are becoming more and more important because they enable employees to save a significant part of their income - instead of having to pay for the health coverage themselves.
Higher-end cabinet makers would be able to take advantage of the supply chain in the area, and warehouses make sense because of the easy access to Interstate 5.
"One of the goals of the partnership is to diversify our economy," she said. "We need to look at what sectors we don't have that make sense for Douglas County. . You have to think of strategies that help the companies' bottom line."
These strategies come into play when recruiting new businesses here. Through phone calls and mailings, she touts the available work force, savings in transportation costs and the supply of available resources to prospective companies.
Because of her work and the work of city governments, Umpqua Community College and other partnering agencies, she's optimistic continued economic growth will be achieved in the area.
"I'm really busy with a lot of inquiries and leads that are coming to us right now," she said. "I think it's fortunate that we are pro-business."
Rooney shares this positive outlook. Future job growth, he said, will
be found in durable goods, construction and health services. Of these industries, health services is expected to grow the most, by about 23 percent in the next 10 years."That's caused by the aging population," he said. "It's happening in most parts of the country, (and with that comes) more demand for health services jobs."
Diversification, he reiterated, is the key to continued success.
Fortunately, Douglas County seems to be on the right path."Going by what we've seen recently, we are expecting growth and diversification of Douglas County's economy," he said. "That's a good thing."
