| Remarks by Governor Kulongoski |
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| November 14, 2005 |
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October 2005 Employment Report
You’ve heard a lot of numbers today. Numbers do a good of job of telling the story, which is certainly true today, but I also want to put a face on these numbers and put it into context how far we’ve come:
- October 2005 marks the lowest unemployment rate Oregon has seen since April 2001.
- Since I took office – since January 2003 – we’ve reduced our unemployment rate over twice as much the rest of the country.
- Oregon’s has the 6th fastest growing economy in the country.
- We’ve created more than 81,000 jobs over the last three years and nearly every region of the state has seen job growth with Central Oregon, Southwest Oregon, and the Columbia Gorge leading the state.
Clearly, we’re doing some things right. In particular, there are two things we’re doing right.
First, we made it clear that Oregon is open for business. We’ve recognized that time is as important to government as it is individuals and we’re put a great deal of effort into making sure that – whether it’s standing in the line at the DMV or obtaining a permit –government is more efficient and responsive to the citizens and businesses it serves.
The prime example is through my industrial lands program – or shovel-ready sites program – which has made industrial land more easily available for new and existing businesses to relocate or expand.
Through my Economic Revitalization Team, we’re bringing all government entities together to cut through the red tape that often creates obstacles for businesses and in turn, we and businesses are saving millions of dollars in time and money so that by the time a company identifies the industrial site they want for their business, we’ve already completed the permitting process and the land is literally ‘shovel-ready’.
The successes of this program are real and not only are Oregon-based companies investing billions in new facilities, but dozens of other companies are moving to Oregon as a result:
- Google, which is building a new facility in The Dalles.
- Amy’s Kitchen will have a new facility in Medford.
- Lowe’s has already started construction on their new distribution center in Lebanon.
- Freightliner is expanding right here in Portland.
- Intel is making a 25 billion investment over the next decade.
- Sun Microsystems in Hillsboro.
- Wachovia in Salem.
- Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in Springfield.
Of the 31 certified sites – 8 already have occupation and there are other projects underway for the future. It’s clear, Oregon is now open for business and because of that, thousands of Oregonians have new jobs, and that’s reflected in today’s report.
The second thing we’ve done right is we’ve invested in public works projects, which improves our public infrastructure, makes it more attractive for businesses to relocate or stay here, AND creates good jobs.
In 2003, we passed a 2.5-billion dollar transportation package to repair Oregon’s roads and bridges, the largest public works project in the state in decades, creating almost 9,000 new jobs – good jobs, that pay family wages, and allow people to educate their children, buy health insurance, and put something away for a rainy day or retirement.
There’s more in the pipeline, too. This year, we passed ConnectOregon – a 100-million dollar investment in our rail, port and aviation infrastructure that will create another 1,500 jobs. And, we approved 500-million dollars in new capital investment in our community colleges and universities.
The benefits of those bills are not yet reflected in today’s good news – which means that employment reports will continue to deliver good news in the future.
By the end of the decade – beginning in 2003 – we will have invested more than $5 billion in our state’s transportation and community college and university infrastructure with state and federal investments combined.
When we make these investments, three things happen:
One – we improve our public infrastructure and make it attractive for businesses to relocate here, or stay here.
Two – we improve the economy.
And three – we provide living wage jobs.
In addition to ConnectOregon and the education capital investments, we’ve funded the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnology Institute, just opened the Kelly Engineering Center at Oregon State University – which we put $20 million into in 2003, we’ve created a new open source technology consortium to foster growth and innovation in the technology sector, and we’ve committed to certifying 15 new ‘project ready’ industrial sites that will produce even greater job growth and economic opportunities throughout the state in the coming few years.
We’re on the right path, heading in the right direction - but we’re not done yet.
We need to keep ensuring Oregon is open for business, and keep investing in our infrastructure.
But as many of you have heard me say before, long term, the key to Oregon’s sustained economic prosperity is education.
If we want to continue this trend of job growth and economic opportunity – then we must make the necessary investments in education and skills training.
You have heard me speak about the Education Enterprise – looking at education as a continuum from preschool through graduate school instead of the traditional silos of k-12, community college and four year institutions. We’ve started to move forward with this education enterprise and when I develop my budget for the next biennium - you will see that a significant portion of the state’s resources will be dedicated to ensuring we raise the bar for all of education from pre-k through 20 and workforce training.
We do a great disservice to our children and to ourselves when we don’t invest in both education and in skills training.
Do I believe every student in Oregon should have the opportunity to go to college if they want to and have the qualifications to? You better believe it. And we’ve expanded that opportunity by increasing the funding for Opportunity Grants to serve all eligible students and even part-time students next beginning next year.
But we must also be realistic in that all of our high school graduates aren’t going to attend college. And for those who do not choose that path, we must make sure they have access to training the skills the need to compete in a global economy.
We can have all the engineers and scientist that we want – but we need skilled workers who can pick up the tools and build bridges or assemble computers and airplanes.
This type of work is good – it pays well, with benefits and retirement plans – and it is honorable.
We cannot continue giving our children the message that their value in our society is based on whether they have a four-year degree or not.
And skills-training is particularly important as the baby boomers approach retirement. Recently I traveled to Klamath Falls at the request of a timber mill down there. Every millwright is in between the age of 53 and 65 – and the next generation of workers doesn’t have the skills to step in and carry on the business. I’ve dedicated some of my strategic workforce reserves fund – which is matched or more than matched by the company – to train workers in the area so that mill can contribute to the local and statewide economy.
But if we don’t let our kids know about these opportunities – or if we don’t make these opportunities available – we, as I said before, do a disservice to our children and to our communities.
The bottom line is that our economy depends on an investment in education and skills training. If we make these investments – we will continue to pave this path of record employment, job growth and create a stable economy for the future.
Today’s numbers are proof that we are making progress in these areas and I am confident that the news today is a sign of what’s yet to come.
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