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The trick to dog behavior ............... PAGE 5 Walking Man ‘Fun’raiser . . ............ PAGE 3

October 18, 2022

Serving Lincoln City Since 1927

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Local tourism surges, ‘2023 looks positive’ JEREMY C. RUARK jruark@countymedia.net

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ourism, Lincoln City’s main economic driver, is surging and the outlook for 2023 is positive, according to Explore Lincoln City Director Ed Dreistadt. “Through the second quarter of 2022 we saw $46,911,692 in revenue reported from lodging properties,” he said. Through the end of 2021 we had $116, 599,614 in lodging revenue reported.” In 2021, the city saw a total economic impact of $476,257,452 from guest spending, that includes lodging, food, grocery, retail, arts and entertainment, according to the city records. In 2020, lodging revenues were reported at $72,986,043. In 2019 the total lodging revenues added up to $80,973,426. “2019 was our best year to date before COVID hit,” Dreistadt said. As Lincoln City businesses navigate through fall and winter of 2022 and into the New Year, Dreistadt provides the following insight about the city’s tourism efforts so far and what’s ahead. The News Guard: Overall, how did the city do during the summer tourist season this year? Up/Down,

how much and compare that to the last few years and why? Ed Dreistadt: Lincoln City continues to do amazingly well. Frankly, we have been expecting to see our lodging performance metrics to settle down to something closer to 2019 by now, but with the exception of a soft 4th of July (most likely because the 4th fell on a Monday) every indicator shows that we are actually doing better than 2021, which was by far the best tourism year Lincoln City had seen to date The News Guard: What do you expect to see through the rest of the year and why? Are you finding people have resumed traveling and spending, even with soaring inflation? Dreistadt: Our city is uniquely positioned to be resistant to economic concerns. No matter what, people want to travel. Even when the economy hits a rough patch and people have to tighten their belts, they still want to travel. We are lucky enough to be a short drive from big population centers while offering spectacular views of the Oregon Coast, stellar See TOURISM, Page A11

JEREMY C. RUARK / THE NEWS GUARD

Above: Ben Soeby assembles one of his special art pieces during the Specialty Farmers Market and Artisan Faire, which helps support local vendors and attracts visitors to the area. Right: The weekend fall kite festival held earlier this month at the D River Beach is designed to draw visitors into Lincoln City.

Oregonians at work: Wage gains, job distribution

COURTESY PHOTO FROM THE OREGON NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION

Republican Christine Drazan, Democrat Tina Kotek, and Independent Betsy Johnson during a previous televised debate.

What’s next in the race for Oregon Governor?

JEREMY C. RUARK jruark@countrymedia.net

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resident Joe Biden was scheduled to be in Portland Friday, Oct. 14, to participate in a Democratic function and on Saturday, Oct. 15, attend a fundraising event for gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek, according to the White House. The News Guard has reached out to Jim Moore, Pacific University Associate Professor and Director of Political Outreach at the Tom McCall Center for Civic Engagement to gain insight into the race for Oregon Governor and the three candidates, Democrat Kotek, Republican Christine Drazen and Independent candidate Betsy Johnson. The News Guard: From your insight, how will President Biden’s visit to Oregon and campaigning for Tina Kotek help her and other democrats running for office in Oregon. Will he sway voters? Jim Moore: Pres. Biden’s visit will excite Democrats and antagonize Republicans. It is a classic get-out-thevote move to bring in a national figure to energize voters. In Oregon with Democrats outnumbering Republicans by about 300,000, this is a pretty good strategy. Kotek’s team probably made the same analysis that John Kitzhaber’s election team made in 2010 when Pres. Obama visited in a very close race for governor. A presidential visit will be more helpful than hurtful, and any voters who are motivated to vote by the visit will outweigh those who are antagonized. The wild card: Oregon’s

1 million+ unaffiliated voters. Kotek’s team might have evidence that more of them will respond positively to a Biden visit as well. Will it help other Democrats in Oregon? They will all have to make their own calculations. In some districts, Biden will be so unpopular that being associated with him during the visit would be bad for Democratic chances in the election. In others, the opposite. I would bet we will see several Democratic congressional candidates with the president. My guesses (aside from the uncompetitive races in CD1 and CD3) would be Andrea Salinas in CD6 and Jamie McLeod Skinner in CD5. Val Hoyle in CD4 might come up as well. An endorsement by Biden of McLeod Skinner would be significant since Biden endorsed her defeated opponent Kurt Schrader in the primary. The News Guard: At least one poll showed Republican Drazan leading in the three-way race over the past week. How has she been able to advance and what is she offering that voters appear to appreciate? Moore: Drazan has two things going for her right now. The first is that Betsy Johnson has change the dynamic of the race. This gives any Republican candidate a better shot at winning. The second, though, is that Drazan’s message that Democrats have been in power too long, and that has led to Oregon declining, is resonating with about a third of voters (oddly, she emphasizes the past decade, not the past 36 years—this is because Kotek was speaker for that decade). This

same message has been tried by every statewide Republican candidate since about 2000, but it is working better in 2022. This may be because of the message itself; it may be because Johnson’s candidacy is moving enough voters that Drazan just has to convince a smaller percentage of the electorate than past candidates have had to. The News Guard: From your insight, what impact does the $2 million to Betsy Johnson and the $1 million to Drazen from Phil Knight have on this race? Does it matter to voters? Moore: Given the amount of money that both Johnson and Drazan have raised, Knight’s large contributions are interesting, but not game changers. At this point, another $1 million is helpful, but there probably aren’t that many advertising opportunities left out there to buy. Both campaigns need to shift to get-out-the-vote efforts—that is where the money will come in handy. Does Knight’s contribution matter to voters? It may. But Knight has given big money to campaigns in the past, and there is no evidence it has moved voters to support those candidates. Once again, the dynamics of a three-candidate race are different than past statewide races, so if Knight’s support can move a small number of voters, that may be enough to push a candidate to a win. The News Guard: Going forward to Nov. 8 what can we expect from the three candidates? Any surprises? Moore: What surprises me a bit is See GOVERNOR, Page A2

VOL. 95 NO. 37

Oregon experienced rapid jobs recovery in 2021. Wage records show a gain of more than 128,400 jobs, or 6%, between the fourth quarters of 2020 and 2021. GAIL KRUMENAUER The News Guard Guest Article

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regon had 1.99 million people working in jobs covered by the state’s unemployment insurance system during the fourth quarter of 2021. Those workers earned a total of $32.5 billion, with an average wage of about $16,325 per worker for the quarter. The median hourly pay during the quarter was $24.83. Employment distribution across sectors Oregon experienced rapid jobs recovery in 2021. Wage records show a gain of more than 128,400 jobs, or 6%, between the fourth quarters of 2020 and 2021. However, this growth was not evenly distributed across industries. Job growth differed enough to change the distribution of jobs across sectors of Oregon’s economy over the year. While some sectors lost jobs over the year, most had substantial growth. Nearly one-third (32%) of the large overall job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality. Leisure and hospitality grew by 41,400 jobs and shifted from making up 9% of all jobs to 11%. Professional and business services – particularly professional and technical services – have also seen strong growth during the jobs recovery. Professional and business services grew by 24,800 jobs and increased their share of all jobs from 13% in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 14% in the fourth quarter of 2021. Despite overall gains, some

sectors saw declines. There were small job declines in transportation, warehousing, and utilities (-1,300) and natural resources and mining (-1,500). Natural resources and mining decreased their share of all jobs between the fourth quarters of 2020 and 2021 from 4% to 3%. Health care and social assistance also decreased their share of all jobs over the year from 15% to 14%. More jobs paying higher wages Changes in the distribution of Oregon’s jobs was even more pronounced across wage categories. Employment moved up the pay scale over the year. Between the fourth quarters of 2020 and 2021, the number of jobs paying less than $15 per hour fell by 125,700, dropping 33%. At the same time, the number of jobs paying between $15 and $30 rose by 131,700, and those earning between $30 and $50 per hour increased by 59,300. That’s a gain of 14% in each of those categories. Jobs earning $50 per hour or more rose by 63,100, or 20%. Employers competing to hire workers in a tight labor market put upward pressure on wages in 2021. Jobs shifting up the wage scale could also be due in part to scheduled minimum wage increases that occurred in the third quarter of 2021. On July 1, 2022, minimums rose to $14.00 per hour in the Portland urban growth boundary, $12.75 standard, and

Classifieds.................. 7 Crossword ................. 8

See WAGE REPORT, Page A5

TheNewsGuard.com

WEATHER

INDEX Opinion ...................... 6 Police Blotter ............ 6

METRO CREATIVE CONNECTION

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65º/50º

66º/52º

69º/47º

67º/50º

72º/56º

70º/49º

64º/52º


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