A sign offers appreciation to health care workers early in the pandemic, but employers say those important jobs are hard to fill in today’s pandemic-influenced market. A recent health care job fair in Ontario few applicants. (Enterprise file)
The labor market in Malheur County continues to strengthen, with the unemployment rate heading towards record lows, according to Oregon Employment Department reports.
That means employers will continue to face challenges filling vacancies. One of the county’s largest employers, Snake River Correctional Institution, has openings for 40 corrections officers.
And a recent job fair to recruit workers for the health care industry produced few applicants.
The state data show, however, the area’s leisure and hospitality sector has rebounded from the shutdowns and restrictions of 2020.
“Malheur County’s employment is basically recovered,” said Christopher Rich, Employment Department regional economist.
For December, the seasonally adjusted number of people employed outside of farm work was 11,740 – up 60 from the month earlier. Separately, about 1,800 people work in agriculture, according to the Employment Department.
The unemployment rate for December edged down a fraction to 3.7% – compared to 4.8% in December 2020. The record low unemployment rate for Malheur County was 3.4% in November and December 2019.
In December, 399 people were unemployed. A year earlier, there were 601.
Rich said the elements of the labor market in the county have been shifting. Manufacturing “was strong in 2020, maintaining 2019 levels, but is down in 2021,” he said.
The state report showed 50 fewer manufacturing jobs.
The most notable drop was the loss of 70 jobs since December 2020 in the “information” sector, which the state reported was due to “losing an employer to Idaho” that wasn’t identified in the report.
Recruiters at the Oregon Department of Corrections continue looking for ways to fill jobs in Ontario and at every prison in the state.
“We’re in a critical status,” said Gary Ninman, Professional Development Unit administrator. “We have openings in security series at every single institution and lots of them.”
Ninman said filling jobs is the Corrections Department’s top priority.
Two work groups have been established inside the agency that are working “feverishly” to recruit applicants and shorten the process for hiring.
Ninman said the state once had little trouble filling corrections officer jobs.
“People came to us,” Ninman said. “These were very sought-after positions. That simply is not the case today.”
Naomi Beverly, Corrections Department recruitment lead, said the agency has gone to one-day hiring blitzes to find applicants.
“With these blitzes, we’re looking at recruitment process through the lens of the candidate experience,” Beverly said. “We look at some of the barriers or at what we have been told is an issue” in the process.
Snake River Correctional Institution conducted such a blitz in September and plans another in May.
Beverly and Ninman said the agency has shaved time and cost for those applying. The agency does applicant testing itself rather than contracting out, cutting time. The state is picking up the $41 testing fee, starts background investigations sooner, and holds interview boards remotely.
The agency also is considering changes to jobs to make them more appealing in the current labor market – “approaches we may not have been considered previously,” Beverly said.
The agency’s job listings are listed at www.odocjobs.com.
(Enterprise graphic)
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