WASHINGTON: Business is good at Deschutes County Title, a title and Escrow Company based in Bend, said Curt Stafford, area sales manager. The company hired six people this year to staff a new office in Redmond, he said. With real estate sales still strong, the summer promises to be busy. “The perception is that business is better than last year,” Stafford said Tuesday. “I would say we’re anticipating a great second, third and fourth quarters.” Data from the Oregon Employment Department give weight to his optimism. Numbers indicate that financial services, a category that includes real estate agents, mortgage brokers and title-and-escrow officers, was one of the fastest growing areas of employment in the past year.
The number of financial services jobs, which are tied to the housing sector, increased by nearly 12 percent between April 2016 and April this year, according to the April employment report for Central Oregon. That translates to 530 new hires in the past year, and 120 new hires between March and April. The unemployment rate in Deschutes County dipped to a new low in April, a seasonally adjusted 3.6 percent. The unadjusted rate is 3.5 percent. The department factors seasonal ebbs and flows into its data to arrive at a number that reflects underlying hiring trends. “Financial activities are just starting to turn the corner,” said Damon Runberg, regional economist for the Oregon Employment Department. “It’s almost perfectly coordinated with housing, and as we see a more competitive market and prices rising, we see (financial) activity ramping up.”
Deschutes County posted “significant job gains” in April, as if making up for a sluggish winter, he said. The county added nearly 1,900 jobs between March and April — more than 800 jobs than typically added at that time of year, he said. Overall, county employers are adding workers to their payrolls at a pace faster than the department initially estimated. Financial services added workers at the fastest rate, but the business and professional services category added the most new jobs, according to department numbers released Tuesday. Business and professional services is a wide category that covers anything from temporary office workers to landscapers. “There is a seasonal component to the professional and business services sector — landscaping, for example,” Runberg said. “But the strong growth we’ve seen over the last year, a lot of that is due to businesses that fall under a lifestyle category.”
Runberg defines lifestyle businesses as small businesses, usually two or three employees, whose owners choose to locate in Deschutes County because of its outdoor recreation opportunities and other quality-of-life aspects. While the area fosters an entrepreneurial environment, with startup funding and other resources for business owners contemplating a move, lifestyle is often the deciding factor. “My research found that quality of life and access to outdoor recreation wasn’t a sufficient factor alone in business recruitment,” he said. “It isn’t enough to draw business in, but, at the same time, without it that decision won’t be made.” Web-based marketing, graphic designers, software makers and consultants typify this category, which does not rely on local clients and is not tied to place. Business and professional services added 650 jobs in Deschutes County between March and April. Crook and Jefferson counties also saw drops in their unemployment rates in April. Crook County employers added 70 jobs, a typical seasonal gain. The jobless rate there fell 0.3 percentage points to 5.7 percent. In Jefferson County, the unemployment rate also fell 0.3 percentage points in April to 5.2 percent, matching the lowest unemployment rate there during the last period of economic growth in 2006.