Jared DeCamp pours out marijuana buds from Gadsden Gardens at Herbal Remedies Dispensary on Thursday, September 3. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
There’s a lot going on business. To help keep you up to speed, the Salem Reporter has launched a semi-regular roundup of business-related items that includes new business openings, locations, grant opportunities and others.
To suggest an item, reach out to reporter Jake Thomas at [email protected]
NEW HIGHS. New state data shows another way 2020 was unprecedented: Oregonians bought more legal weed than ever.
As Oregonians hunkered down during the pandemic, wildfires and sometimes confrontational protests, they also bought over $1 billion in cannabis. Last year, Oregonians bought $795 million worth of weed. The new heights in sales are a first for the state’s recreational cannabis market, which went online in 2015.
Numbers from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission show that statewide sales peaked in July at $106 million before tapering off. December saw $95.9 million in sales.
Marion County weed shops sold more than $73.5 million worth of product in 2020. The county’s peak month was May when $6.8 million worth of cannabis was sold. Polk County saw $11 million in sales. Like its neighbor to the east, Polk County’s top month for sales was May with over $1 million sold.
JOBS RISE IN FALL. There were more open jobs in fall of 2020 than the previous year, according to numbers released Friday by the Oregon Employment Department.
Oregon businesses had 54,700 open jobs in fall of last year. That’s a 7% increase from the number of job openings in 2019, signaling that the level of job vacancies in Oregon had returned to levels seen before the Covid pandemic severely disrupted the economy. While the Portland metro area had the most open jobs at 19,279, the mid-Willamette Valley had the second most at 7,332.
Oregon’s employment situation has likely changed since a new state order issued in November to slow the spread of Covid put new restraints on businesses. But the numbers provide a snapshot of trends in Oregon’s economy.
Most of the open jobs were full-time, permanent positions, and half of employers who responded to the survey described the jobs as difficult to fill. Health care and social assistance were the most in-demand, with 10,600 vacancies. Retail trade was next with 8,600 jobs and construction at 6,000.
However, the survey found employers were offering less pay for open jobs. The average pay was $17.47 an hour, a decrease of 9% from the average in fall 2019. A total of 19,731 open jobs paid less than $15, an increase of 5% from fall 2019. There were 5,300 jobs paying between $25 and $30, a decrease of 35% from the same period the previous year.
PPP RETURNS. A popular and much-criticized federal pandemic relief program for businesses will reopen this week.
On Tuesday, Jan. 19, the U.S. Small Business Administration will start accepting loans for the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers forgivable loans to help businesses keep workers on the payroll.
The program was renewed under the second pandemic relief bill signed into law late last year. According to a press release from the U.S. Small Business Administration, it helped 5.2 million small businesses and kept 51 million workers employed.
The last iteration of the program, launched in spring, drew criticisms that it benefited well-heeled companies at the expense of struggling small businesses. This time it’ll give the first crack to smaller lenders with $1 billion or less in assets, in hopes of benefiting underserved and minority small businesses.
Businesses that did not receive a Paycheck Protection Program loan before Aug. 8 will have the first draw. The second draw will go to businesses with 300 or fewer employees that previously received a loan under the program that was used for approved purposes.
According to the most recent data released by the administration in November, over 9,292 Oregon businesses received loans over $150,000. Of those, about 514 were in Salem. Another 56,811 Oregon businesses received loans under $150,000. Of those, 2,591 were located in Salem.
Contact reporter Jake Thomas at 503-575-1251 or [email protected] or @jakethomas2009.
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