Sen. Ron Wyden heard several Central Oregon job success stories
at a roundtable discussion Monday, but no one at the table
sugar-coated the challenging issues faced both by those looking
for good, living-wage jobs and employers who often struggle to
find qualified, trained (or trainable) workers.
The Oregon Democrat paid a visit to the Manufacturing &
Applied Technology Center, located at Central Oregon Community
College’s Redmond Campus, for a tour and to hear more
about how WorkSource Redmond, a "one-stop career center," was
doing at matching those needing workers with those needing
work.
"We’ve tried to make a high priority of workforce
training," Wyden said. "Dollar for dollar, I think it’s
the best investment we can make in our economic future."
"This is not your grandfather’s economy," the senator
added, "where someone went to work at 18 and continued there
until 65, when they’d get a gold watch. Now, you’re
likely to change jobs two or three times in a lifetime." And
for that, Wyden said, retraining programs will be crucial,
throughout one’s life.
"People come out of these programs, and their income goes up,"
the senator said – a key for the many Americans who find
themselves unable to make ends meet Prineville resident Judy
Gervais told Wyden how she had worked at a mill (Clear Pine)
for 19 ½ years, and "suddenly, one day, they said,
‘Here’s your last paycheck,’ and that’s
it."
But with the help of the local career coaches through the
region’s Workforce Investment Board, Gervais has gotten
her massage therapist license, and is one term away from
earning her degree, after three years of schooling. She works
for a Prineville chiropractor and has her own office in Redmond
as well.
"Where do you see yourself, looking down the road in, say, five
years?" Wyden asked after the two joked a bit about how busy
she’s already gotten in her new profession.
"Then you’ll really have trouble getting an appointment,"
Gervais said, to general laughter. "I got an ad in the Yellow
Pages last year. I’m afraid to get too busy before
I’ve finished school."
Wyden warns of ‘demographic
tsunami’
It’s the kind of story Wyden said he hears a lot, about
people shifting careers: "You’ve got to be nimble, and
you’ve got to move quickly."
Gervais explained "I didn’t want to go back into a mill.
... I wanted my own opportunities."
"Good for you," Wyden replied, pressing on to learn that she
has no health insurance – or as he put it, she had to "go
bare," in terms of insurance. He asked his staff to see if
Gervais might qualify for the Oregon Health Plan.
That prompted Wyden to note the "demographic tsunami" due in
about 2010: "We’re going to have millions of baby boomers
retiring," he said. "All the problems we have today are going
to multiply three or four times."
Lee Bouck, general manager of Jeld-Wen’s Bend millwork
plant, told of the difficulty had was having in finding people
for jobs that start at an average $13 an hour, seeking
employees with "a work ethic and who play by the rules."
Bouck told of how the Business Resource Network came to visit,
in the form of Jennifer Houston, business development manager
with Economic Development for Central Oregon. That saved him a
lot of time, and led to help with Oregon Employment Department
pre-screening, hooking up with those looking for work through
the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, even turning to
high schools for those not planning college after their
graduation.
Wyden called the custom-tailored workforce efforts a big
improvement over cookie-cutter training programs of decades
past, when the newly trained folks would learn "employers did
not need those skills, and you kind of scratch your head and
say, ‘What do we do now?’"
COCC Vice President Matt McCoy said the coordinated job-assist
effort really got up to speed when Lancair, the plane
manufacturer, ramped up their Bend factory and needed to find
qualified applicants.
Senator hears personal stories
One of Wyden’s themes, as usual, was to ask what the
federal government could assist with, or do better, to make
such programs succeed. McCoy suggested that one problem is the
number of programs in which funds that are aimed at local
programs "make a stop in Salem" first, being funneled through
state agencies. He urged that the money be directed locally
whenever possible.
Brian Grall, general manager of Fuqua Homes in Bend, his firm
"struggled last year to find employees," before turning to the
Business Resource Network for help.
"We not only get more applications, we get a higher quality of
applications," Grall said. "It’s fantastic to have that
kind of resources in this area."
Lester Sancho, who came to America from the Philippines, said
he’s seen the problems from both sides, as employer and
employee. A front desk supervisor at Comfort Suites in Redmond,
Sancho said there were 3,000 applicants for some recent
positions, "but most of the people were not qualified, or do
not have enough skills."
As for his own career, Sanco said, "COIC helped me a lot. I
worked in a mill for a year, didn’t like the job." But
moving on was a struggle, he said, as he went back to school
and learned accounting, moving up from night auditor at the
Comfort Suites.
Sisters resident Diane Yates said she and her husband were
among dozens of workers who lost their jobs when Weitech, an
electronic pest-control device maker, left the area.
"I just got a job at the Ponderosa Lodge in Sisters, as night
auditor, making $7.50 an hour," said Yates, who has a
17-year-old son, and has gone back to school. "I still have a
ways to go," she said. "It’s pretty tough, but I still
want to go to school."
COIC has helped to make that happen, providing help with gas
costs, even car repairs. "I’d have had to drop out," she
said.
Bob Barber, who is leaving the presidency of COCC, pointed out
there weren’t any 20- to 30-year-olds in the room, and
mentioned the so-called "quarter-life crisis" of younger people
who are not going to school, seen in dropping enrollments at
community colleges throughout the state.
"Studies show we’re creating a generation who feels we
have no hope – Social Security is going broke, private
pensions are going under," Barber said. "Congress needs to step
forward and say, how can we rebuild hope? This is the
generation that is going to pay for Social Security" and the
other needs of society."
But echoing what others told him, Wyden said, "if you open up
the want ads, there’s plenty of reason to be hopeful."
And the senator suggested his staff work with local agencies to
find new means and avenues of advertising and so forth to reach
the young adults, about what opportunities exists.
As the meeting broke up, Yates said that indeed, there are
help-wanted ads, but "you see a lot of service-related jobs"
that don’t pay very well.
Dennis Simenson, program director for the Redmond training
center, talked with the senator on a brief tour about the
modular, self-paced nature of the program: "You stop in on your
time schedule," he said, standing by a Saturn robotic assembly
device.
Looking at the metal product of a "doughnut-hole device," Wyden
asked, "How many doughnut holes do you have to make to
pass?"
"Our philosophy is: You do it until you do it right," Simenson
said, later telling the senator, "What we need in Central
Oregon is some good manufacturing (jobs)."
Later Monday, in another economic development nod, Wyden was
heading east to help Crook and Deschutes County officials cut
the ribbon and officially open the Millican/West Butte Road, a
new shortcut from Highway 20 east of Bend, north to Prineville
and that city’s industrial park.
Wyden said Crook County Judge Scott Cooper approached him two
years ago about the need to develop the route and its key
economic importance. The senator called it "one of the most
important nuts and bolts economic issues" he’d dealt with
for Central Oregon, along with colleague Gordon Smith and Rep.
Greg Walden.
Published by Bend.com 6/29/04
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