Staff writer
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| JEROME A. POLLOS/Press Debi Camarda and her daughter, Brooklyn, 4, relax in the kiddie pool Wednesday at Triple Play's Raptor Reef. |
Number of jobs in area has consistently risen in past year
COEUR d'ALENE -- The U.S. economy is tumbling into a full-blown recession this year -- it may be there already. But according to some regional economic pundits, with its diversified industry, North Idaho may sail through the doldrums.
Bureau of Labor statistics show that even as housing starts flatline and gas prices skyrocket, the number of jobs in Coeur d'Alene has consistently risen in the past year.
Based on those upward employment trends, Mark Hovind, a Nevada business consultant and president of JobBait.com, placed Coeur d'Alene on a list of 27 "recession-proof" areas in the U.S.
Hovind, who has made a career of helping competitive business executives find employers, crunched Bureau of Labor statistics taken from 400 metropolitan areas for the list.
The cities on the list are those in which the number of jobs outpaced growth in the workforce. The data were collected over several years -- including during the recessions of 1990 and 2001 -- ending in 2007.
According to the list, other recession-proof areas include Billings, Mont., Bend, Ore., and Bellingham, Wash.
Jonathan Coe, president of the Coeur d'Alene Area Chamber of Commerce, said "it makes me a little nervous to use (recession-proof), but I to think we do have a strong economy, and one that is fairing well in this downturn."
The term "recession-proof," Hovind said, may be misleading, and "recession-resistant is technically the correct term."
Hovind's data show Coeur d'Alene's fastest growth in the tourism sector, which "went wild" with 1,800 new jobs over the last 12 months.
"Why is Coeur d'Alene sailing through these recessions?" he asked, "in a word: Leisure."
Kathryn Tacke, regional economist for the Idaho Department of Labor, said the tourism industry is only one sector contributing to the overall growth in the area, and the reasons for the city's relative stability are complicated.
Tacke added health care and manufacturing to the economic sectors contributing to the upward trending job market.
"Manufacturing is our largest sector," she said. "It has some weakness from the timber industry, but other sectors in manufacturing are continuing to grow and are offsetting those timber job losses."
Aside from contributing more jobs, manufacturing usually pays higher wages, she said.
According to Tacke, Kootenai County's manufacturing jobs averaged $35,925 annually, while the leisure industry paid less than half -- $14,594, including tips.
With newly recruited companies in Kootenai County, like Amulet Manufacturing, or existing growing ones, like Transtector Systems, the market is experiencing a "very healthy increase," Tacke said.
Nationwide over the last 10 years, the U.S. has lost 3 million jobs in manufacturing, while Kootenai County has added about 1,000 with 24 percent growth, Tacke said.
Coeur d'Alene's higher-than-normal senior population may also bolster the area's economy.
Retiree income tends to be stable and does not fluctuate with the economy, Tacke said. Additionally, as those seniors and retirees grow older, they will spend more and more money on health care.
"Think about what's going to happen to the Baby Boomers 20 years from now," she said. "We're getting to the point when the health care industry is only going to grow."
Despite health care growth, Tacke said it is becoming even harder for workers to find jobs offering health care benefits.
While manufacturing and health care sectors show signs of stability, growth in the tourism industry is not so certain.
Economists theorize that rising gas and airline ticket prices will deter tourists from making their summer visit to Coeur d'Alene. But the weakening dollar could ease the passage for overseas travelers to the area.
"Nobody knows what's going to happen with the tourist industry," Tacke said. It "is the brightest star during the next year. But it also could be one of our biggest disappointments."
On Wednesday afternoon, the indoor water park at Hayden's Triple Play echoed with the sound of children who splashed and floated in the warm water.
Families came and went throughout the day, which is typical year-around for business at the amusement park, said marketing director Jennifer Ross.
Like most businesses in North Idaho's tourist industry, Triple Play is busiest during the summer months, but Ross said with a bowling alley and indoor water park tourists from across the Northwest visit regularly through the winter.
Although many families visiting the park come from Spokane, Seattle, Montana, Portland and Boise, there are a growing number of Canadians.
Ross also credits Silverwood Theme Park, which has partnered with Triple Play, for a steady stream of hotel patrons during the summer.
"Summer is already booked," she said. "It's definitely not going down."
Information:
http://www.jobbait.com
Sean Garmire can be reached at 664-8176, ext. 2009 or at sgarmire@cdapress.com.
RD wrote on May 9, 2008 10:34 PM: