Economic Indicators in Klamath and Lake Counties 

Provided to KCEDA by Work Force Analyst, Ainoura Oussenbec of the Oregon Employment Department (OED), is a summary of economic indicators following the month of October, exploring what trends the OED expects to see occur in Klamath and Lake Counties during Novemeber. According to this summary, the OED recognizes that employment has improved for both counties, though growth rates were moderate. The summary also looks closely at the construction industry for each area, and identifies that Klamath County has displayed slow growth, but that Lake County’s employment is back to pre-recession levels. To access this report, please click on the underlined link just below: 

OED Economic Indicators (Nov.)

Rick Abel Hired as Business Development and Retention Manager

According to a 2015 study, The Job Generation Process, it was found up to 80% of job growth in any community is generated by existing businesses. This stat alone shows why it is of great importance for an economic development organization like KCEDA to put emphasis on developing a strong business retention and expansion program. With having a strong BRE program, our community can benefit in many ways. It offers the opportunity for KCEDA to help businesses grow and stay in the community. It gives KCEDA the capacity to identify local and state incentives available for access to capital and expansion opportunities. In addition, it allows us to make consistent contact with our business community, helping us gain an enhanced perspective as to what strengths and weaknesses exist in our local economy, leading us to identify ways to cultivate improvement, while simultaneously giving KCEDA a platform to further encourage collaboration among the public and private sectors so that we may better understand and collectively represent the goals of our community.

Recently, KCEDA, in coordination with Betty Riley of SCOEDD, have hired Rick Abel to be our organization’s new Business Development and Retention Manager. Rick comes from an extensive marketing background, where although he is coming from Portland, is previously from Klamath, and is very familiar with the area. We believe that he is going to be a very valuable part of our team, and are excited for the contribution he is going to make to KCEDA and the business community as we continue to move forward. To contact Rick, please refer to his email: rick@teamklamath.com. 

Jeld-Wen Ribbon Cutting – Increases Customer Support Staff Locally

On October 22nd, staff and several members of KCEDA among other local leaders were present for a Jeld-Wen ribbon cutting event held at Jeld-Wen’s Tech Center in Klamath Falls. The event was promoting the company doubling the size of its customer support staff in Klamath Falls, but also served as an opportunity for the organization to speak about how they are firmly committed to being a strong partner with Oregon, in particular Klamath County. KCEDA thanks Jeld-Wen for their dedication to our community and its local workforce, and looks forward to continuing our engagement with them as we put forth efforts to advance Klamath County’s economy. Thank you to all the members who were able to represent KCEDA by attending.

Retail Coach Primary and Secondary Studies 

In a coordinated effort to improve Klamath’s retail presence, the City of Klamath Falls with the help of multiple local partners, including KCEDA, has hired the Retail Coach to do a retail market analysis of Klamath, performing macro and micro trade area assessments as they prepare to actively recruit on behalf of our area. 

Recently, Retail Coach released two initial reports, a Primary Retail Trade Area Demographic Profile and a Secondary Retail Trade Area Demographic Profile. These reports provide past, present, and projected information on area households (income, type, size, mortgage status), employment (by occupation, industry), population (race/ethnicity, education attainment, age, sex, martial status), and more. 

To access these reports, please refer to the underlined links below.

Retail Coach – Primary Trade Area Demographic Profile

Retail Coach – Secondary Trade Area Demographic Profile

“Beautification, Economic Development Linked” Herald and News Editorial

By: Alison Nash, Quality of Life Committee

Last December, the Herald and News printed a commentary I wrote regarding the evident lack of pride in our community and the need to spawn a cleanup movement.

The months that followed were spent brainstorming and collaborating with others that shared the same concern in an effort to find a solution to the problem. Since then, my husband Jason and I have become members of the Klamath County Economic Development Association (KCEDA) under its new model because we wholeheartedly believe in our community and it’s ability to turn itself around economically.

Klamath Pride’s origins

With the restructuring of KCEDA came the creation of a Quality of Life committee. This committee has been meeting for the last six months and discussing beautification efforts and how they are crucially tied to economic development. After much research and many hours of planning, Klamath Pride was born.

Klamath Pride was conceived with a simple question in mind; how does the City of Klamath Falls and Klamath County begin to put its best face forward? The objective is to inspire and promote the beautification and betterment of the communities in all of Klamath County and instill a sense of civic pride in our citizens. Klamath Pride will utilize Klamath’s greatest strength — its residents — to report, maintain, volunteer and encourage others to clean up their property and contribute to the beautification of their communities.

Part of a package

Beautification needs to be thought of as part of an economic development package. Tax abatements, grants, and regulatory exceptions can only do so much to attract new business.

No matter how much money a community is willing to offer in incentives, quality of life issues will always have a major impact on where people choose to live and locate their business. The way our community presents itself has a great deal to do with the choices that business executives make regarding site selections.

Klamath Pride will work to bring together caring citizens, civic organizations, and federal agencies to improve the quality of life for our residents and visitors. There will be programs in place to help those needing assistance, either physically, financially or both, in cleaning up their properties.

Focus will first be on beautifying the areas that will be the first visuals that visitors and potential businesses experience, and the hope is that those efforts lead others to continue the progress within their own communities.

KCEDA, its new executive director, Greg O’Sullivan, and it’s board of directors knows the importance of beautification as it relates to economic development and is wise to implement Klamath Pride as the vehicle to begin to improve the quality of life within our community.

Their support and forward thinking members have brought the vision of Klamath Pride a big step closer to reality. Continue to watch for information and updates on Klamath Pride and its projects.

Oregonian Article: “Klamath County, a case study in economic transition: Editorial Agenda 2015”

By: The Oregonian Editorial Board

Can a rural area transform its economy from one dependent on extraction industries to one that embraces a 21st century model built on technology and professional services? The past three decades in Oregon have not provided a lot of reason for optimism. But if there’s a place that could pull off the feat, it might be Klamath County – despite some recent bad breaks.

The news earlier this month that Jeld-Wen Inc. has moved its global headquarters from Klamath Falls to Charlotte, North Carolina, underscored the long slide of wood-products manufacturing in the area. Worse yet, the county’s other economic pillar, agriculture, has been hard hit by drought – and was neck-deep in a water-rights battle even before the weather worsened. Despite those setbacks, timber, wood products and agriculture-related industries still account for about 17 percent of the county’s jobs.

Not surprisingly, Klamath County’s unemployment rate is 8 percent, well above the statewide rate of 6.1 percent. The county is still about 3,160 jobs, or 12 percent, below its pre-recession peak. But, in contrast to other high-unemployment Southern Oregon counties such as Josephine and Curry, Klamath has some strengths to build on, including the remnants of its wood products industry, a tourism industry anchored by Crater Lake, Oregon Institute of Technology and a growing health care sector.

Any economics discussion in Southern Oregon starts with the forest products industry, and in Klamath County the marquee company has been Jeld-Wen. While Jeld-Wen no longer has a headquarters in Klamath Falls, the withdrawal was gradual and the blow mostly had been absorbed by the community before the move was reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Richard Read earlier this month. The company declined to reveal current Oregon employment levels to Read, but it still has a decent number of   employees in the Klamath Falls area in positions ranging from manufacturing to professional services to research and development. The area also has a handful of other wood products employers, including plants operated by Columbia Forest Products and The Collins Companies.

While no Oregon county will be able to rely almost exclusively on forest products to support a healthy economy, as some did as recently as the 1980s, the industry still needs to be part of the mix. And having companies that manufacture value-added finished products, as some in Klamath County do, is important. These companies will need to adapt to a market that is evolving toward more sustainable building practices, and government and private economic development agencies need to work with them to help make sure that they have access to loans and the regulatory flexibility often needed to make those changes.

Tourism jobs do not pay as well as ones in the wood products industry, but they are a key part of the economic mix in rural Oregon – in part because tourists help support local retailers and other businesses. And Klamath County has one of the best tourism draws in the state –Crater Lake. The catch is that Crater Lake also is one of the most seasonal draws since key parts of it are inaccessible during a long winter. Realistically, Klamath Falls is not going to become a winter destination.

Of all Klamath County’s assets, perhaps the most valuable for the future is Oregon Institute of Technology. A college provides important economic stimulus in any community, but a tech-centered university in a relatively small town – that’s economic gold. For the county to fully capitalize on this prize, it must find a way to keep more graduates in the area. It’s not surprising that many would leave, given the value of tech-related degrees and many millennials’ preference for urban areas. But the group leaders should target to keep is entrepreneurs.

Small towns offer some advantages for entrepreneurs, notably lower costs. Oregon Tech correctly has begun to place more emphasis on entrepreneurship, and a handful of companies have been started recently by graduates – including Gro-volution, which combines technology and agriculture to create a portable environment for growing food. OIT also is involved in the Klamath IDEA business incubator.

Health care is important to any rural area. Sky Lakes Medical Center is growing and expanding its regional reach. And Oregon Health & Science University, in partnership with OIT and others, is launching a rural health campus in Klamath Falls. For a county with a population of about 66,000, that’s a solid health care foundation.

A lot of things would have to go right for Klamath to lower its unemployment rate to anything near the statewide rate. And transportation remains a challenge for a county without an interstate highway and with very limited commercial air service. But when you look at the county’s strengths, the task is far from impossible. The whole state should be cheering for Klamath County and those who are investing in it.

Pen Air – Herald and News Editorial

This was an editorial presented by KCEDA President, Lauren Jespersen in the Business Section of the Herald and News on Sunday, August 9th, 2015. 

What does it really mean for business, commerce and Klamath County to have air services?  Sometimes we would like to think that emails, text messages and webinars have taken the place of an eye-to-eye business meeting that is sealed with a handshake, but even the most virtual companies must see, feel and experience the product firsthand before they commit. Business travel is an industry all of its own generating $2 trillion in economic output and supporting 14.6 million American jobs.  According to a national survey productivity gains take various forms including new sales, customer retention, collaboration, employee satisfaction, networking, industry knowledge and idea sharing. Making business travel and access to air services is fundamental to retaining and expanding our business and economic base.

With last week’s announcements of Pen Air touching down in Klamath Falls we started to reimagine the possibilities. Can we get the governor and the Business Oregon Team to fly in and see what we have to offer to businesses? Or which of the companies that we are working with are ready to “kick dirt” and have a “meet and greet” with Team Klamath?   You see in the economic development process or any sales process it is essential that the client feel and experience the product firsthand.

Essentially air service acts as a resource, bringing new inward investment from outside our area. It helps retain local businesses, also giving these existing companies expansion opportunities as the logistical range of where they can provide their products and/or services grows exponentially. Having dependable air services  also helps Klamath influence company location decisions, making our county more attractive to prospective businesses, as well more competitive to other areas in our region. With the opportunity of having an airport, we are also presented a platform for our community to grow as an entrepreneurial habitat for “start-up” businesses, helping us capitalize on our industrial strengths while simultaneously letting us address the desire to further diversify. In addition, having an operational airport increases accessibility to our community, giving us the chance to further develop our tourism sector, for as more airport visitors come in, more money flows into our local economy.

Klamath County Economic Development Association (KCEDA) knows just how vital having an airline like Pen Air is to facilitating economic growth. We want to recognize the efforts of several KCEDA partners, such as the City of Klamath Falls, SkyLakes, Air Guard, the Chamber of Commerce, Discover Klamath, OIT, and more, for helping us and our community enter a position where we may capitalize on the economic benefits of having air travel accessible locally. Without the help of these organizations and local leaders, this would not be possible. In the past few months KCEDA has pushed to be a catalyst in helping our community move forward, and with opportunities such as this, we are provided even more tools to push Klamath County’s economy in a positive direction.

KCEDA is very excited for Pen Air to be involved with our area, and is once again thankful for all the effort that has been put in by our proud organizational partners and local leaders to make this exciting new community relationship a reality. 

THE VALUE OF TOURISM: Part II

By: Jim Chadderdon, Executive Director for Discover Klamath Visitor & Convention Bureau

In last month’s KCEDA newsletter, we talked about the value of tourism in Klamath County. At nearly $150MM annually, inbound visitation to our area provides new monies to local businesses that then recirculates through our local economy several more times.

Let’s take a closer look at who is visiting and where and how they are spending money.

Visitors typically stay (i) In private residences, (ii) in hotels/motels, (iii) Other – e.g. camp. 41% of all Klamath County visitors stayed in private residences in 2014, 31% stayed in hotels/motels, and 28% stayed elsewhere.

What’s interesting is that visitors who stay in hotels spend a lot more than visitors who stay in private residences. 57% of all monies spent were by the 31% who stayed in lodging. Only 26% of total visitor spending was done by the 41% of people who stayed in private residences.

Here’s how visitors spent money in 2014:

• Lodging:  $  27.2MM
• Restaurants:  $  34.5MM
• Grocery/Convenience Stores:  $  14.1MM
• Local Transportation & Fuel:  $  17.9MM
• Arts, Entertainment, Recreation:  $  17.9MM
• Retail Sales:  $  17.3MM
• Other:  $  12.6MM

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Total Spending:  $141.5MM

Also, we need to distinguish between “Overnight Travel” and “Day Travel”. Klamath seeks more “Overnight Travel” because these people obviously stay longer and spend more on accommodations, food and beverage, etc…  In 2014, the “Day Travelers” (in and out of Klamath in a single day) were 19.7% (20%) of total visitor dollars, whereas “Overnight Travelers” generated 80% of tourism dollars. This has implications to how and where tourism marketing occurs. Event Managers may wish to target communities a little further away, such as Bend, Coos Bay, Reno, or Redding versus closer communities such at the Rogue Valley where we are more likely to attract the single “Day Traveler”.

A stat that shows how well tourism is working is the figure that captures how long visitors stay in Klamath. A few years ago the average visit was 1.9 days. In 2014 that figure had risen to 2.6 nights per visit. Not surprisingly, there are behavioral and spending differences between those who stay in lodging versus those who stay in private residences. The former stays an average of 1.9 nights, whereas the latter spends 3.0 nights. Since we know lodging visitors spend more than residential visitors, it should be a goal to increase the length of stay among those who stay in lodging. For those who own or manage lodging properties the implication is clear: you should be encouraging multi-day visits by packaging visitation with other things such as restaurants, events, day-trips, etc… Clearly, getting lodging visitors to remain in town longer has extraordinary financial rewards.

In 2014, Klamath benefitted from 2,062,000 overnight stays. That was up +2.2% versus 2013. Private Residence visits were up slightly more than lodging visits (3.0% vs. 2.0%). The average person in lodging spent $92/day and $173 per trip in Klamath, whereas those who stayed in private residences spent $32/day and $96 per trip.

The Bottom Line: Analyzing visitor habits and spending habits gives us good insights as to how tourism efforts are working. At this point the big picture looks good for Klamath County tourism as more people are visiting and discovering our area. At nearly $150MM annually, and 1840 jobs, tourism is an economic driver in Klamath County and its importance is growing. 

City of Klamath Falls Hires Retail Coach 

In an effort to provide more retail options in Klamath, the City of Klamath Falls has hired retail recruitment firm, The Retail Coach, to help assess Klamath’s current retail landscape and assist in the growth of areas where there are retail gaps. Members of the Klamath Falls City Council awarded The Retail Coach $102,000 for this contract. The city’s budget will fund $48,000 of this contract. The remainder of the contract will be paid over the course of the next two budgetary years, with contributions from the county and KCEDA. With this opportunity, KCEDA is freed up to concentrate its efforts toward developing Klamath’s industrial base, particularly looking at trade and manufacturing. For more information on The Retail Coach, please visit their website using the underlined link just below. 

The Retail Coach – Website