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March 28, 2024

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Tech hasn’t been area’s jobs savior

The Columbian
Published: January 31, 2010, 12:00am

As old-line industries in papermaking, lumber and aluminum began to fade in Clark County over the past 15 years, manufacturing jobs in technology were seen as the replacement. It hasn’t worked out that way.

All manufacturing employment here totaled just 11,100 jobs in the latest report from Washington’s Employment Security Department. Of those, about 3,800 are tied to computer and electronic product manufacturing, machinery manufacturing and other tech-related work. That’s down 1,000 jobs from a year ago.

Furloughs, layoffs and plant closures created a drumbeat of bad news for tech in 2009.

Now, we’re seeing a big turnaround in worldwide demand for computer chips. Even so tech employment here is not expected to add back many jobs because improvements in production efficiency will hold down hiring.

SEH America, for instance, is making bigger silicon wafers for the chip industry with 764 workers, down from more than 1,000 a few years ago. The WaferTech chip foundry in Camas has seen employment range from 900 to 1,000 since it started up in the mid-1990s with no indication that parent company, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., will invest in a second plant here. Other new capital projects are years away.

We won’t get into the wage aspect of this.

Short sales, taxes?

Vancouver resident Norma Jones wants to warn those considering a short sale of their home as a way to escape mortgage debt must carefully review the tax consequences. The IRS may see the difference between the original mortgage loan amount and the agreed on short-sale price as taxable income.

Vancouver CPA Jim Caley gave me a brief explanation. Generally, if you borrowed against the equity in our house and refinanced, the difference between that new loan amount and the short-sale price will likely be taxable. If you had not taken out equity money but the house was still worth less in a short sale, the difference is likely not taxable. This definitely is a circumstance that deserves a recommendation from a tax expert before proceeding, Caley said. IRS Form 982 or tax code Section 108 deals with this issue.

Taco Del Mar update

Brad Loucks remains in business with his Taco Del Mar restaurant at 8902 N.E. Fifth Ave. in Hazel Dell. That’s despite the Chapter 11 reorganization of Taco Del Mar’s parent company in Seattle. Loucks just signed a five-year renewal on his lease and isn’t changing anything. There are 225 Taco Del Mar locations throughout the U.S. and elsewhere.

Quote of the week

“I’m not happy with where we are, but it’s a lot better than where we could be.” — Ben Bernanke, Time magazine’s Man of the Year, who last week was re-elected Fed chairman.

Julia Anderson is The Columbian’s business editor. Reach her at 360-735-4509 or julia.anderson@columbian.com.

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