Economic picture brightens — sort of — for county
Poverty rate shows modest decline
by: Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Saturday, December 27, 2008 11:21 PM PST
ONTARIO —When it comes to Malheur County’s economic picture, there is good news and bad news.
The good news: The county’s overall economic picture looks a lot better when it is compared to other Oregon counties from last year and even the past few months. And, according to at least one source, Malheur County is no longer saddled with the highest poverty rate in the state.
The not-so-good-news: While the county is no longer grappling with the No. 1 poverty rate in Oregon, it is still not far from the top slot.
Right now, Jefferson County has the highest poverty rate — at 18.8 percent — while Baker County is No. 2 at 17.7 percent.
According to Northwest Area Foundation, which focuses on helping governments and organizations deal with issues surrounding poverty, Malheur County is tied with Benton County with a poverty rate of 17.6 percent.
The Northwest Area Foundation ranks Malheur County with the fourth highest poverty rate in Oregon.
Since Malheur County has remained fairly constant in its economic picture, Peter Lawson, branch manager of the Southeastern Oregon Regional Food Bank, said it is likely the status of the top two counties accounted for the change in numbers.
“We’re really not seeing a large amount of increase of activities in our region to (explain the change in rating).” he said. However, Lawson cautioned that someone else may read the data differently. Malheur County’s poverty rate numbers, gleaned from the U.S. Census, proved to be lower than its poverty rate of the late 1990s, when it stood at 19 percent.
According to the county chart put up on Northwest Area Foundation Web site, Union County was No. 7 and Harney County No. 8 in terms of poverty rate for 2007.
In the latest unemployment statistics published in Eastern Oregon Labor Trends, a document produced by the Oregon Employment Department, Malheur County’s October unemployment rate was an adjusted 6.1 percent, below the other five Eastern Oregon counties and below the seasonally adjusted state unemployment rate of 6.5 percent. Union County had the highest unemployment rate of nine percent.
Jason Yohannan, who edits Labor Trends, said Malheur County’s numbers, which were revised upward, show that unemployment is undoubtedly moving upward in 2008, but the local job market hasn’t crumbled like it has elsewhere in Oregon and Eastern Oregon.
Also, Yohannan reported on the fact that the prior gap between Malheur County’s unemployment rate and Payette County’s rate, has narrowed. In January, Malheur County’s unemployment rate, was 3 points higher than Payette County’s.
Yet by October, Malheur County’s unemployment rage — 6.1 percent — was almost the same as Payette at 5.8 percent. In another positive note for Malheur County, Yohannan said the latest figures by the Portland State University’s Population Research Center show that Malheur County had gained 55 people in the last complete fiscal year, representing Malheur County’s first population increase in seven years.
A wrote on Jan 4, 2009 7:52 PM:
I'm not talking about legalizing it for the abusers, I am talking about a new industry that would produce literally hundreds of millions of dollars for Oregonians, and stop the lumber industry from chopping down what few trees we have left, using biodiesel from hemp seeds, hemp for paper, clothers, food, the list is a mile long.
The first drafts of the Declaration of Independance was written on hemp paper. If you read the facts with an open mind, the solution to many of our problems is in plain site. Or do what has been done for over 70 years and ignore the facts and base your opinion on misinformation and lies that our government has been feeding us for too long.
We were of the first to decriminlize it, of the first to legalize for medical use, lets be the first to legalize production of hemp and pay off all our debts and keep our beautiful state in tact. I don't want to lose our forests, fresh air, and I sure don't want to pay 4 dollars for a gallon of petroleum when i could be driving a vechile for a 1/3 that cost per gallon and emit 80% less garbage into our atmosphere. "