As the economy improved the past six years, more teenagers in Lincoln County and northwest Oregon are working.
In 1996 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated there were 3,731 youth ages 14-18 working in Lincoln, Clatsop, Tillamook, Columbia and Benton counties. By 2012 that number had fallen to less than half – 1,524.
By the end of 2018 that number had risen to 2,311, Erik Knoder, the Newport-based regional economist for the Oregon Employment Department, said in a report Tuesday.
Every county in Northwest Oregon showed the pattern of falling youth employment until 2011 or 2012 and increasing youth employment since then, Knoder said. Columbia County has seen the largest percentage gain – 60 percent — in youth employment since 2011, and Lincoln County has had the smallest gain – 34 percent — from its low point in 2012.
In Lincoln County, Knoder said, 21 percent of youth are working. In Benton County, that figure is 11 percent.
Why is there such a difference between the counties, Knoder asked? There may be more opportunity for youth in tourism-related businesses in the coastal counties and less competition from older college students. Leisure and hospitality and retail trade provide about 28 percent of all payroll jobs in Lincoln County.
Although all age groups were hit hard by the recession a decade ago, youth especially suffered, Knoder said.
“A new generation has added to the workforce as the labor market improved, and the return of teenage workers seems to be strongly influenced by having jobs available to them,” Knoder said in his report.
