Southeast Idaho weathering great recession better than most
Signs of economic growth are hard to come by nationally, but in Southeast Idaho the news isn’t all bad. In fact, there are some success stories to tell here amid the Great Recession’s tumult.
June’s employment report showed that more were created in Southeast Idaho, while the rest of the state lost nearly 700 jobs.
ON Semiconductor last week purchased Sanyo Electric Co.’s semiconductor unit for $336 million, along with adding $11 million in new equipment to ON’s Pocatello plant. Thirty-five people were hired to run that new equipment and there are still 20 positions left to be filled.
ON’s success in these bad times is such that Gov. Otter plans to visit the plant on Aug. 3.
Pocatello plant manager John Spicer said ON is very optimistic about the future, regardless of the economy’s current instability.
“As an industry, year over year (demand) is up quite a bit. I just think we’re real excited about the future and the opportunity,” he said. “We have a strong future and there’s a real positive outlook on Pocatello’s manufacturing capability.”
Small-business successes can also be found locally. Thai Paradise, a new restaurant specializing in Thai cuisine, has opened its doors in downtown Pocatello. Kowloon Express, an eatery also offering an Asian menu, has more than doubled in size thanks to an expansion of its South Fourth Avenue location.
It seems a week doesn’t go by without some kind of new eatery opening its doors in the Pocatello area. Just a couple weeks ago Geraldine’s bakery opened up its second store, this one located in Pocatello’s warehouse district.
But amid these signs of economic life is some bad news. Retail sales figures for the region are at their lowest level since 1997.
Unemployment rates throughout the region remain higher than what any of us would like. In fact, Power County has the highest unemployment rate in the state at 12.6 percent.
Bob Fick, a spokesman for the Idaho Department of Labor, said the path out of the recession for Idaho and the rest of the country will be “a slow slog.” Idaho is not expected to return to its 2007 employment levels until 2014.
But Fick also said that Southeast Idaho’s seven counties—Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Caribou, Franklin, Oneida and Power—are perhaps more stable than elsewhere. Recovery, for us, might come sooner rather than later.
“Southeast Idaho didn’t have the kind of expansion that places like Boise, Coeur d’Alene and Idaho Falls had during the expansion years of 2005 to 2007,” Fick said. “The fall back to the core economy has not been as great (in Southeast Idaho) because the increase beyond the core economy was not that great.”
For now all any of us can do is weather the Great Recession’s storm the best we can.
But be thankful to be in Southeast Idaho, where there are breaks in the unemployment clouds and an economic forecast that’s anything but gloom and doom.