When You Vote, Vote For Jobs

I'll leave it to your better judgement to decide who to vote for this election, but as you examine your choices, please make job creation your highest priority. We need to get Oregonians back to work -- stat. Two Oregonian reporters, Richard Read and Mike Rogoway, just posted articles that should move you to action:

According to Read, six rural counties now have unemployment rates that exceed 15 percent... and one, Crook County, is at 19 percent (click here for his article). That's not counting the broader measure of underemployment -- those folks who have either given up looking for a job or are working part time because they can't find full employment... a statistic that's known as BLS U-6. The latest U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics report for the Second Quarter of 2010, shows Oregon's total unemployed + underemployed at 20.1 percent of the state's population. That's 1 in 5 Oregonians who can't find full time employment.

Rogoway's reporting is equally disturbing:  Oregon's high technology employment is resuming it's downward slide (click here for his article). Last year he reported that the state's technology sector had shed more than 16,000 jobs since 2001 -- a statistic that is not well know by most Oregonians.

Bottom line: getting Oregonians back to work has to be Job One for all our elected officials -- no matter their political affiliations.