One of the few bright pieces of economic news for the Portland-Vancouver region in the past few years shows how far the metro area has to go to recover from the Great Recession, economists say.
Intel Corp., Oregon’s largest private employer, said Tuesday it would invest $6 billion to $8 billion in a plan whose centerpiece is a new factory employing up to 1,000 people in Hillsboro, Ore. With roughly one in 10 current Intel jobs held by Clark County residents, that expansion is likely to employ up to 100 local people.
The same morning, economists released figures showing Clark County unemployment at 12 percent, and Oregon’s jobless rate at 10.6 percent.
“Boy, it’s clearly — in what is a pretty gray environment — a break in the clouds,” said John Tapogna, president of the economic consulting firm ECONorthwest.
In addition to the permanent production jobs, Intel said the plan would also bring 6,000 to 8,000 construction jobs to build the Hillsboro “fab,” as chip factories are called, and upgrade four existing plants: Two in Arizona, two in Hillsboro.
While area unemployment rates have retreated from highs of last year, they remain well above the national average.
Still, economists saw promise in Intel’s announcement, including long-term benefits such as further entrenching Intel’s operations in Oregon, where it employs 15,000 with an annual payroll of $1.8 billion, and restoring some luster to the state’s reputation among businesses.
“If you have a world-class corporation like Intel saying that Oregon is a good place to do business, that definitely has a positive ripple effect,” said Tom Potiowsky, Oregon’s state economist.
Some of that ripple will likely be felt in Clark County — not only by the people who work at Intel, but also by companies like Vancouver-based SEH America, which supplies the chipmaker.
