Josephine Recession Job Losses and Recovery Gains by Wage Level (Cont)
quarter 2010, a decline of 16.4 percent. During the subsequent recovery through second quarter 2016, higher-wage industries gained back just 450 of those jobs, a rise of 7.7 percent. Looking at the longer-term trend over the decade, ambulatory health care services had by far the largest job gain, up by nearly 450. Insurance carriers and related activities (+165) and management of companies and enterprises (+123) also added numerous higherwage jobs. Professional and technical services added about 50 jobs over the decade. Many higher-wage industries are still below their pre-recession job totals. Many of these are associated with the housing bust and slow recovery in the housing and building sector. Construction of buildings (-326), forestry and logging (-132), and heavy and civil engineering construction (-76) are still below their prior pre-recession employment totals. Other higher -wage industries losing jobs over the decade include merchant wholesalers (-277), computer and electronic product manufacturing (-233), plastic and rubber products manufacturing (-177), and credit intermediation and related activities (-173).
Trends in Average Weekly Hours for All Employees One often asked question is about full-time versus part-time jobs. Are the new jobs that are being added offering fewer work hours? We don't have the break-out between part and full-time employment for local areas, but Oregon statewide trends show little change over the past 20 years in the distribution of jobs between full and parttime. About 80 percent are considered full-time and about 20 percent are part-time in Oregon. During and shortly following the recession, there was a very slight increase in part-time jobs, but in the later stages of Oregon's recovery, the split between full and part-time employment has edged back closer to its historical 80/20 split. Data are available for Josephine County on the average weekly hours worked for all employees. This shows a generally rising average workweek after the Great Recession, but a recent decline from a peak figure in March 2015 of 34.7 hours to 31.9 in September 2016. Average weekly hours for all employees were essentially unchanged from September 2015 to September 2016. Looking at broad industry trends by sector over the past decade shows education and health services, professional and business services, other services and leisure and hospitality adding jobs. On the other hand, information, wholesale trade, construction and manufacturing are still below their pre-recession employment peak in 2006. While job growth is one economic indicator, diving a bit deeper into the quality, i.e. wage level, of those jobs sheds additional light on the economic health of county. While average wages and number of jobs are factors in an area's overall income and poverty rates, other sources of income such as proprietor's earnings, retirement and investment income are also factors to be considered. A recent analysis from a prolific economist with the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis, Josh Lehner, looked at some of these broader trends for Josephine County. This can be found at https://oregoneconomicanalysis.com/2016/11/03/poverty-and-progressjosephine-county-edition/.
Southern Oregon Business Journal
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