The Local Jobs Agenda

When we say that fortifying the local economy is the best job-development strategy for Jackson County, what do we mean? Where will these jobs come from, and what kind of incomes will they generate?

The economic uncertainties ahead make exact answers impossible. But our campaign set out to research the local jobs landscape, conferring with business owners, educators, Employment Division analysts, and other knowledgeable professionals to identify sectors that offer exceptional opportunities for putting Jackson County residents to work in quality jobs.

Note: The purpose of the Local Jobs Agenda is to identify some effective roles county government could play in the near future, and to stimulate ideas and insights from interested county residents (we welcome your input at golden4jaxco@gmail.com). County government does not have the resources to undertake all of the tasks described here. Highest priority should be given to tasks that:

Leverage maximum effort and resources from other partners with minimum investment of taxpayer dollars, that is, offer cost-effective collaboration.

Do not compete directly with private-sector businesses and projects, that is, fill critical holes that the for-profit sector is not addressing, and...

Seem to offer the clearest opportunities for creating quality jobs.

The Local Jobs Agenda is organized into four sections:

I. Guiding Principles

Use lean government policies to strengthen locally owned enterprises and focus on business “clusters” to maximize results.

II. Low-Hanging Fruit

We identify seven clusters in Jackson County as poised for rapid growth. We offer this summary of estimated job growth over the next five years:

Cluster	Number of Jobs Today (1)	Annual Salary Range	New Jobs Created in Five Years (2)	Percent Gain
Forestry	1,170	$21K - $55K	316	27%
Food & Agriculture	2,307	$24K - $37K	1328	58%
Energy Conservation	535	$30K - $50K	1177	220%
Green Construction	3,200	$38K - $46K	1410	44%
Electric & Specialty Vehicle Manufacturing	796	$33K - $41K	100	13%
Internet Retail & Infrastructure	2,750	$30K - $55K	560	20%
Business Incubation & Financing	0	$40K+	300	(NA)
Totals (3)	10,223		4,014	39%

These seven clusters comprise a vital portion of the Jackson County economy. We believe that they can grow 39% over the next five years. At least two additional clusters, Eldercare and Innovative Tourism, offer enough potential to warrant further research and development.

III. Buy-Local Government Procurement.

County Government can fortify the local economy with taxpayer dollars by increasing the percentage of supplies and services provided by locally-owned businesses

HERE'S WHERE JACKSON COUNTY HAS TO DO SO MUCH BETTER.

Jackson County government spends approximately $80 million per year on private suppliers and public sector agencies. Sixty percent of this expenditure goes to contractors, firms and agencies outside of Jackson County.

IV. Methodology

Description of assumptions and approaches used to develop job estimates.

Here is the full report

Economic Plan for Jackson County

Notes to this page.

1. Data sources on Jackson County employment: Bureau of Labor Statistics and Oregon Labor Management Information System. Websites noted in “References” at end of report

2. Estimates by Granada Research. For details on assumptions and methodology used to develop these estimates, visit the “Methodology” section in our full report.

3. To avoid double counting, job totals here do not include the Energy Conservation line-item. Job levels for this item, actual and projected, are based on a subsector of the larger Construction-industry cluster.