COVID takes a bite out of leisure and hospitality industry
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, March 10th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
THE DALLES – Unemployment remained fairly steady in January for both Umatilla and Morrow counties. Oregon Employment Department Regional Economist Dallas Fridley, based in The Dalles, says Umatilla County’s rate went down a tenth of a percent to 5.5 percent, while Morrow County’s rate rose four-tenths of a percent to 4.9 percent.
Fridley said the true impact of the COVID-19 pandemic can be seen in comparing jobs figures from January 2020 to those of this year.
“We can see some of those COVID impacts, particularly in leisure and hospitality, which is down 530 jobs over the year,” he said. “That’s a loss of about 21 percent, falling to 20,950.”
In Umatilla County some areas did show gains over the year. Among them are professional and business services (150 more) and retail trade (100 more.)
Morrow County saw an increase of 150 jobs over the year, most of them in the category of professional and business services. Job losses were recorded in leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, and local government.
