February, 2017

February, 2017

PUBLIC SECTOR

PRIVATE SECTOR In This Issue: Competition for Talent Oregon Jobs—Casinos and Gaming

Cyber Security

A few words from Greg Americans seem to love competition.

Maybe it’s in our inherited nature from days of settlement on the eastern seaboard 400 years ago, I’m not sure, I’m guessing. We also like to win. Because we do we also keep score just so we can prove who the winners and losers are.

Maybe it helps us get better for next time.

Eventually we end our boasting, or crying, over winning or losing the competition we were in and just get on with our lives.

That’s American, too, believe it or not. After the contest, most of the people I know would die to save the life of their competitive adversary. Sometimes we have grudges that last a little longer than they should, but usually we reach an impasse in those cases and just agree to disagree while freely giving that “disagreeable neighbor” a hand. That too is the America most of us have known.

I drove 18,000 miles last year all over the six counties of SW Oregon. The people I met were darn nice folks. The kind of people you don’t mind having for a neighbor. They were also the people you know would protect you from harm without being asked. Even when they might think your ideas, or mine, are a bit sideways.

As we read about protests and disappointment around the country I’m comforted by the fact that hostile demonstrations and hateful confrontations haven’t taken residence in these six counties. Not to say someone might feel pretty good punching someone else in the nose for being obstinate, but relative peace is our frequent choice, regardless. That makes for better neighborhoods.

In the last few weeks more than one person I have met has said that they are feeling positive about how 2017 is going to be. And these were people who did not vote for our new president, they feel it’s important to move on peacefully.

That is wisdom in action.

Greg Henderson Greg Henderson, Publisher greg@southernoregonbusiness.com

Southern Oregon Business Journal

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A JOURNAL FOR THE ECONOMICALLY CURIOUS, PROFESSIONALLY INSPIRED AND ACUTELY MOTIVATED

Table of Contents PUBLISHERS NOTE 2 A Few Words From Greg

23 Filling Job Vacancies 24 Government Workers

ECONOMICS 4 Grub and Growlers

7 Coos County “State of the County” SMALL TOWNS & COUNTIES 8

Angel Investors

10 Infrastructure Decisions

26 Demand Outpacing Workers

Security Challenges 28 Cyber Security 30 Buyers without Borders 32 Leadership Style 33 BOLI Answers

12 Governor Visits Klamath County

FINAL WORD

14 The Value of Education

34 Small Business

Featured Articles 16 Tribal Gaming and Employment 22 Josephine County Development

703 Divot Loop Sutherlin, Oregon 97479 www.southernoregonbusiness.com 541-315-6127

Southern Oregon Business Journal

Cover Competition for qualified candidates pits the public sector against the private sector www.canstockphoto.com" Can Stock Photo / scusi

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Food Services: More Than Grub and Growlers Food services and drinking places was Oregon’s biggest private-sector industry by employment in the second quarter of 2016, with 151,147 employees.

The industry is also Oregon’s third-lowest paying after employment in private households and the amusement, gambling, and recreation industry – with a monthly average wage of around $1,500.

Foods services and drinking places provide employment to many Oregonians, and the industry also provides many people (this author included) their first work experience.

These jobs offer flexible schedules and teach a work ethic, teamwork, responsibility and customer service. They also get criticized as being dead-end “McJobs.” This article will examine this sometimes-controversial industry and the quality of its jobs.

Food Services Employ Many The food services and drinking places industry is the largest part of the leisure and hospitality sector. The leisure and hospitality sector itself has a little more employment than all the manufacturing in Oregon.

The food services and drinking places industry is made of three groups; it includes restaurants, both fullservice and fast food as well as nonalcoholic bars; specialty food services, such as caterers, contractors and food carts; and bars serving alcoholic beverages.

The restaurant group is by far the largest part of the industry, with nearly 136,000 (90%) of the employees in the second quarter of 2016 (the most recent data available). Drinking places had about 8,000 employees and businesses in the specialty food services group Southern Oregon Business Journal

had about 7,000 employees.

Within just the restaurant group of businesses, full-service restaurants were the most numerous (nearly 4,100 in Oregon) and had the most employees (about 70,000). There were about 3,100 limited-service, or fast-food, restaurants with about 50,000 employees in the second quarter of 2016.

Oregon had about 1,200 snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars with around 13,000 employees and fewer than 100 cafeterias with about 1,100 employees.

Government restaurants? Yes, local governments in Oregon operate about a dozen enterprises, mostly cafeterias, with around 100 employees in the food services and drinking places industry. Their average wage was about $2,000 per month in the second quarter of 2016.

Restaurant chains are some of the larger employers in this industry. Some food service contractors are also large firms because they either serve large venues, such as sporting arenas, or because they have numerous institutional clients.

On average though, these were small enterprises with about 15 employees each. This may be one reason for the low wages in the industry; small firms typically can’t achieve economies of scale that allow them to offer higher wages.

As might be expected, the number of food service and drinking places varies in different parts of Oregon. Morrow County (population 11,630) in eastern Oregon had the smallest share (1.3%) of any county of its payroll employment in the industry in 2015. At the other extreme were Clatsop and Lincoln counties (on Oregon’s tourist-laden coast) with 18 percent and 16 percent, respectively, of their total payroll employment in the industry. The top county in Oregon for food services in 2015 was Sherman County with 20 percent of its employment in the industry – but that was only 105 jobs. For the state as a whole, food services and drinking places comprise about 10 percent of employment.

In absolute size, Multnomah County, of course, had the largest food services and drinking places industry with about 42,000 employees in 2015.

Oregon’s employment in food services and drinking places grew by 9.4 percent over the past couple years – from June 2014 to June 2016, and added 13,000 jobs. By comparison employment in all industries combined grew by 6.8 percent during that time.

Young Workers and High Turnover Workers in the food services and drinking places industry tend to be women (53% versus 47% men) and are younger than in other industries. In 2015, 31 percent of the workers were ages 14 to 24, 27 percent were ages 25 to 34 and 42 4

percent were age 35 and over.

This age distribution has shifted somewhat toward older workers in the past few years. The age distribution for workers in all industries combined in Oregon shows less than half this proportion of young workers and 50 percent more in the older age group. The preponderance of young, probably less experienced, workers in food services and drinking places may be another contributing factor in the low wages paid. Less experienced workers may be less productive or require more expensive training.

Food service workers are also in transition more. The turnover in the industry was 15.2 percent for 2014 versus 9.0 percent for all industries in Oregon combined.

of fast food cooks and counter attendants and we can see that about 36 percent of employees are preparing and serving food, often in limited-service food establishments such as fast-food restaurants, delis, and cafeterias.

Although it can be hard, hurried work, these occupations generally don’t pay very well. Most of the more common occupations had a median wage under $10 per hour in 2016.

Cooks and managers made a little more, but the common occupations in the industry are correctly noted for their low pay.

In the second quarter of 2016 Oregon’s minimum wage was $9.25 per hour. That quarter about 11 percent of the jobs in Oregon’s food services and drinking places industry paid an hourly wage within 10 cents of the minimum allowed.

Fully 71 percent of the jobs paid less than $15 per hour.

Most of Oregon’s industries have wage distributions that are more uniform. All industries combined had about 60 percent of their jobs paying more than $15 per hour in the second quarter of 2016. Less than 1 percent of food services jobs pay high wages of $50 per hour or more. The information sector has more than 20 percent of its jobs paying these high wages.

Why does the food services and drinking places industry pay low wages, and why do workers accept low-paying jobs? The answer is probably the same as it is for industries that pay high wages. Firms pay the wage that the labor market sets and people accept those wages because they are the best they can command at the time.

Payroll records show that 26 percent of the people who had jobs in food services and drinking places in the second quarter of 2014 had their primary job in a different industry by the second quarter of 2016. Another 27 percent had no records of working in Oregon after two years. They may have quit working, moved out of state or become self-employed. In total, more than half the workers in the industry had moved on to some degree after two years. This high turnover may also affect wages; many firms have policies of tying pay raises to tenure.

The Industry’s Impact Beyond Grub and Growlers The most common occupations in the food services and drinking places industry (listed in the table) have very modest skill requirements. The skills required to be a

Occupations in Food Service More than 80 occupations are found in the food services and drinking places industry, from CEOs to parking lot attendants, but the most common ones are those that prepare and deliver food and drinks.

About one-fourth of the workers in the industry are doing food preparation or combined food preparation and serving work. Add this group to the 9 percent working in the closely related occupations Southern Oregon Business Journal

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combined food preparation and serving worker include the ability to operate a cash register, use basic mathematics, follow recipes and clean dishes, among others. There are typically no educational requirements, although a high school diploma may give someone an advantage when applying for a job. A great number of Oregonians in the labor force either have these skills or could gain them with a little on-thejob training. This means there is a relatively large supply of labor for this occupation. Because wages (and prices) in a market economy are determined by supply and demand, this large supply works to decrease the wage in the labor market for combined food preparation and serving workers.

The secret to having a high-wage job is to find a job that very few people can do because of the requirements for skills, training, education, natural talent, licenses, union membership, or even personal contacts. Because most jobs in food services and drinking places have few requirements, the labor supply remains large and workers are paid less than for jobs with many requirements.

But low-wage jobs are not the blight on society that they are sometimes portrayed to be. People generally take low-wage jobs because they are a better option than the alternative – which is usually no job at all.

Mark McMullen at the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis has noted that having someone take a relatively low-wage job, compared with not working, still raises the total and per capita income in an area.

Southern Oregon Business Journal

Food services and drinking places are major employers in Oregon. Although the industry often pays low wages, these jobs offer a paycheck for workers and the opportunity to gain skills needed for other jobs. Eating and drinking businesses also can function as a community amenity that helps attract new people.

Article By: Erik Knoder Regional Economist Clatsop, Columbia, Lincoln, and Tillamook counties erik.a.knoder@oregon.gov

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“State of the County” Commissioner Cribbins addressed an audience of about 100 people at the February 1, 2017 Bay Area Chamber luncheon.

In her “State of the County” presentation there was a review of three basic agenda items that generally covers all the concerns of Coos County. In bullet point fashion she said that “Economics, Infrastructure and the Unknown” covered just about everything.

Commissioner Cribbins spent time discussing tourism and its importance to the area now and growing into the future.

Biking is a focal point for more and better trails with the inclusion of new construction by professional trail builders in the spring and summer of 2017. New trails should be open in the Beaver Hills/Seven Devils unit by fall. Area tourism could grow by several hundred thousand dollars with the additional trails. Supporting businesses like restaurants, hotels and retail shops will see an uptick in business.

Coos County Commissioner Melissa Cribbins

The Coos Health and Wellness building is in the later planning stage with an expected construction approval coming soon. It will provide better service in public and behavioral health while also serving as a transit stop.

Unknowns are always a mystery but they require budgeting considerations because they are inevitable. Currently the slide on West Beaver Hill is causing traffic changes and will have to await better construction conditions before it can be addressed fully.

Other items include Broadband expansion, moving the sheriff’s office, and beginning discussions to replace or repair worn and outdated county offices.

2017 Bay Area President Jessica Engelke

Southern Oregon Business Journal

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Inventors Create & Angels Invest $150,000 @ 2016 Roseburg Angel Investor Network Electricity was in the air for the 2016 Roseburg Angel Investor Network (RAIN) conference, held at UCC’s SOWI Center on Thursday, December 1st. The selection process and due diligence experience was an involved one for the contestants. Of thirteen launch applications and eleven concept applications, four launch and five concept stage finalists emerged.

Following are the four Oregon-based companies presenting their 10 minute Launch pitches competing for $150,000 from about 15 local investors.

Scout Military earned the grand prize in a considerably close competition. Their app for veterans already has 40,000 users and is vital to honoring veterans and their families while saving them money. This is Scout’s third investment check since starting to raise funds in August.

Holly Rockweiler with Madorra, the first non-hormonal, non-invasive medical device to treat vaginal dryness and atrophy. Holly and her team are truly fixing a problem most females are identifying with, according to the detailed research she presented.

Robert Beckius with APIS, pitched their product that allows anyone to check the quality and safety of the air through their phone, or computer. Robert is passionate about improving a problem we all identify with whether we know it or not. He demonstrated the air quality taken 24 hours prior to event and also data from monitors in SW Portland.

Southern Oregon Business Journal

Zach Hines with Ripclear of Bend OR presented a revolutionary patented lens protecting film technology. He started his pitch by taking a screwdriver to a pair of snow goggles. This product is amazing and has applications for sporting good goggles, motorcycle helmets, sunglasses and more.

The Concept Stage had five notable Douglas County companies competing for a $5000 cash prize. All of these hard-working people put a lot of work into their five minute pitches, with 3 minutes to answer questions.

Holm Made Toffee Co. is not a new company. Donna Holm has been making her gift bag treats since 2009. Entering new wholesale markets is the next step for this company and they would use the $5000 prize to invest in new packaging and branding.

Two Shy Brewing, Lyle Hruda makes delicious beer and wants to expand to offer a food and beer truck. The vehicle would allow Two Shy to serve at off-site events as well as provide Hawaiian Style food at Two Shy during business hours.

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Debbie Caterson, Director of the Umpqua Business Center and UCC’s Small Business Development Center was the lead organizer for this event. She was so successful in raising money that the RAIN Conference was able to provide $5000 cash to Wrappin and Rollin for their 1st place presentation, and a $2000 2nd place prize to Simple Screens, as voted on by the audience. An anonymous attendee also asked to donate $500 to Dr. Jay, bringing the total 2nd place prize to $2500.

Bluebird Cupcakery, Owner Melinda King gave a memorable pitch for her delicious fresh ingredient cupcakes and hand made-to-order cakes. Reinventing herself and her small business since relocating to Roseburg from Santa Cruz, she would use the money to provide commercial kitchen space, equipment and packaging needed to sell her treats all over Roseburg.

During the conference speakers from Douglas County shared their entrepreneurial experiences. The keynote speaker Diane Mahoney touched on her personal trials when first starting out as an entrepreneur, and how she overcame them through persistence and determination over 22 years in business.

The guest panel had great insight too. Tim Allen, Kyle Kipperman, Todd Edman, and Seth Buechley, spoke about their entrepreneur journeys and answered questions from the audience. The afternoon Keynote Seth Buechley, spoke about his new book, Ambition, Leading with Gratitude to a rapt audience.

Trevor Mauch of Carrot and Oregon Entrepreneur Network, shared a moving video about Douglas County life and gave a few words of encouragement.

Wrappin and Rollin, Douglas County’s only Vegan Food Truck, Darci and Daryl Hawkins have been in business for only a few months. Their truck, fondly named Gretyl needs a new chassis, a fresh wrap to advertise their brand and a company website.

Attendance for the second year by Roseburg High School’s Future Business Leaders of America led to a private conference with their group and some of the speakers.

Simple Screens is an electronic registration device that could revolutionize medical offices. Founder, Dr. Jay Richards works at a Roseburg clinic by day and wrote the algorithm for his software in his spare time. Capturing required patient information for the state, this product could create efficiencies in offices while cutting down on the time.

Small Business Development Center http://www.umpqua.edu/contact-umpqua-sbdc

Southern Oregon Business Journal

It was a wonderful afternoon of inspiration and learning from so many about their passionate entrepreneur pursuits.

Kemberly Todd, Administrative & Program Specialist 541-440-7824

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BY: CHARLES MAROHN JANUARY 5, 2017

“The most important thing we need is sharply increased public investment in everything from energy to transportation to wastewater treatment.”

“There is now a consensus that the United States should substantially raise its level of infrastructure investment.”

Larry Summers The Washington Post

Paul Krugman The New York Times accounted for, the results are alarming.

Your road have potholes? Commute congested? Know a guy up the street that is underemployed? Want to make the country greener? Macro economists have the perfect response to all of this: infrastructure spending. Lots of it.

Spending on infrastructure is seen as the consequence-free way to boost the economy. It's the rare thing a pickupdriving blue-collar worker and a tree-hugging PhD candidate can both agree on: America would be better off if we spent a lot more on infrastructure. Just look around! Is there anything more obvious? Economists even have nifty equations with fifty year projections that prove it. Who could be against that?

Sadly, those applying equations from the top of America's economic ivory towers misunderstand the impact of infrastructure spending on cities, towns and neighborhoods.

Whether or not a policy of borrowing money to build infrastructure really works at the national level -- and there are really smart people who question whether it does -- it's not without consequence for local governments.

Here's five things we wish macro economists understood.

1. FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, INFRASTRUCTURE IS A LIABILITY, NOT AN ASSET. General accounting practices count infrastructure as an asset on public balance sheets. This means the more money the federal government spends building infrastructure, the richer local governments become. On paper.

In the real world, all of those miles of road and pipe represent future obligations, stuff the city is now tasked with maintaining. The asset, where there is one, is the tax base supported by the infrastructure. When this is actually Southern Oregon Business Journal

A 20:1 ratio of private investment to public investment is stable (where private wealth in a city exceeds the cost of infrastructure by 20 times). Anything less than 10:1 starts to become fragile, yet it is common for cities to have more public infrastructure investment than actual private wealth, a completely untenable situation.

Why? Because we've built way too much infrastructure.

2. CITIES CAN'T JUST HAVE GROWTH; THEY NEED PRODUCTIVE GROWTH. Macroeconomic theories focus on growth as an end unto itself. At the national level, economic growth solves a lot of problems that economists worry about, from unemployment to debt service. Due to the large influence federal spending has on local infrastructure decisions, this narrative of growth has become the dominant one at the local level as well.

Yet, this mindset makes little practical sense for cities, which have far more fiscal constraints than the federal government. As new infrastructure is built and the liabilities start to grow, there needs to be a capturable increase in local wealth sufficient enough to meet those obligations. In other words, the growth must be productive; it must make the community wealthier in real, measurable terms. This is not optional.

If the federal government experiences growth by taking on a dollar of liability, there are options for the national economy to deal with that shortfall. If a local government does the same thing, there must be a local mechanism to take care of that liability in perpetuity or things will go bad.

Despite this, federal infrastructure investments never take into account local financial productivity.

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3. LOCAL GOVERNMENTS CANNOT BE SATISFIED WITH A PURELY SOCIAL RETURN ON INVESTMENT. Economics is a social science that often concerns itself with the well-being of people and things like environmental impacts, social justice and quality of life. These are admirable pursuits that can benefit from economic thinking and the work of economists. There are very good reasons for macro economists to study, quantify and pursue policies aligned with social objectives.

It is also perfectly acceptable for local governments to pursue similar aims. The difference is that local governments face hard financial constraints that the federal government does not. As we say at Strong Towns, financial solvency is a prerequisite for long term prosperity for local governments.

This means that cities have to #DoTheMath. Projects must pencil out, today and into the future. If something is done at a loss for a purely social aim, that's perfectly acceptable so long as everyone understands that the ongoing revenue must be accounted for from somewhere else. Financial solvency is a prerequisite for local governments in a way that it never will be for the federal government.

4. SAVED TIME IS NOT THE SAME AS MONEY FOR A CITY. Embedded in standard federal benefit/cost analyses for transportation projects -- and related propaganda from organizations like the American Society for Civil Engineers -are equations that translate time spent in traffic and wearand-tear on a vehicle into dollars. When a congested highway adds another lane and thus (theoretically) reduces the travel time for drivers as well as wear on their vehicle, that saves drivers money. When economists consider tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of vehicles on a stretch of road on any given day, the accumulated savings for even minor transportation improvements are overwhelming.

If a project will improve an individual commute by 60 seconds, and there are 40,000 cars per day that travel that route, then the project will save 40,000 minutes of time each day. In a year, the savings is 243,000 hours and, if the project is expected to last 50 years, then the total savings will be 14.6 million hours. If we assume a person's time is worth $25 per hour, then we've just saved $365 million dollars. By this math, it's really that easy to save tons of money.

Economic models that assume humans are rational, utilitymaximizing beings calculate that saving people time will result in their being more productive. In reality, saving someone 60 seconds on their commute is more likely to provide a minute of additional sleep than 1/60th an hour of additional wage income. Either way, nobody is paying to maintain a road with saved time. These theoretical models are Southern Oregon Business Journal

ridiculous in the real world and should not be part of any local project determination.

5. CITIES CAN'T EASILY WALK AWAY FROM PROMISES. WHEN THEY ULTIMATELY DO, PEOPLE SUFFER .

The decline and ultimate bankruptcy of Detroit demonstrated what happens to non-elites when cities are forced to walk away from their promises. People with few options suffer the worst. In the words of Detroit native, author and reporter Charlie LeDuff, "Get the money together or the kids don't have a future."

It seems that everyone has a narrative for Detroit. Those from the radical right across to the fringe left can describe the failure of Detroit in the ideological prism they feel most comfortable with. It's greedy corporations. It's greedy unions. It's corrupt politicians. It's those people. Whatever your narrow perspective is, Detroit is there to affirm it.

Here's our view: Detroit, once one of the most wealthy and prosperous cities in the entire world, got started on this transportation infrastructure craze a couple decades ahead of everyone else. They grew and grew, taking on enormous liabilities along with lots of unproductive development. To keep it all going as the mathematically guaranteed decline set in, they were forced to do increasingly risky and desperate things. Detroit became so financially fragile that they couldn't survive corrupt politicians and bad decisions the way a more resilient place could. Detroit started a couple of decades ahead of everyone else and they arrived at the final destination a couple of decades ahead of everyone else.

And their people suffer for it.

If macro economists care about actual people as much as they care about theoretical people, they will realize that prolific federal infrastructure spending hurts people by making cities poorer in the long run. There are plenty of ways to experience growth at the macro level that don't include, as a byproduct, bankrupting our cities, towns and neighborhoods. Before we spend a trillion or more on additional infrastructure, we need to stop and think about what we are actually doing.

Charles Marohn is a Professional Engineer and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. Chuck is the Founder and President of Strong Towns.

He is the author of Thoughts on Building Strong Towns (Volume 1) and A World Class Transportation System as well as the host of the Strong Towns Podcast and a primary writer for Strong Towns’ web content.

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Klamath County Economic Development Association Welcomes Oregon Governor to Region Governor Brown in visit praises innovative public-private partnership and discusses multiple initiatives including ambitious Klamath Cyber-Security Area Plan

Klamath Falls, Oregon (January 25, 2017) – Governor Kate Brown spent several hours today with representatives from the Klamath County Economic Development Association (KCEDA) discussing a variety of pro-business initiatives. Brown met with KCEDA representatives at their offices and took a tour of regional economic opportunities presented by KCEDA. During the visit Brown expressed her enthusiasm for the kind of public-private partnership that KCEDA represents and for several of the economic development opportunities KCEDA and its members were working on.

One of the plans that Governor Brown was particularly interested in is the Klamath County Cyber Security Zone plan. Klamath County has military and intellectual property assets that need to be protected from foreign hacking and the zone would provide for additional security efforts on a regional basis.

“Our message to Oregon’s Governor was strong- we shared with her the importance of talking about the opportunities, rather than the struggles, of rural Oregon. We asked her for help in leveraging our significant strengths. We have strengths like Oregon Tech, opportunities in renewable energy, an Air Base, and plenty of industrial land ready for development.” Said Kelley Minty Morris, Klamath County Commissioner.

Another ambitious economic development site the Governor toured is the Tech Hills Business Park. Tech Hills consists of 400 acres of potential business sites from 1 acre to much larger plots that will be designed to attract advanced manufacturing and other hi-tech companies that will be able to employ graduates of the Oregon Institute of Technology and others in the region looking for good-paying jobs.

“OIT is just such a great asset for the area that we must find a way to jump start companies coming here and employing those graduates locally,” said Greg O’Sullivan Director of KCEDA. “The kind of companies that would need graduates of OIT’s caliber and skill sets include those that would work in advanced manufacturing, software development and other intellectual properties, cyber security and more industries that pay well and would provide a real economic boost to the region.”

About the Klamath County Economic Development Association (KCEDA) Since 1975, KCEDA has reflected the best of private enterprise, responsibility and dedication. Its mission is to provide tailored recruitment and retention/expansion programs, new opportunities for jobs, and a diversified, value-added industrial base/expanded economic development climate in southern Oregon. Learn more at www.ChooseKlamath.com.

Left to right: Vice President of the Board Mark Wendt, Board Secretary Albert Wedam, Board Treasurer Ann Cavanaugh, President of the Board Lauren Jespersen, County Commissioner Kelley Minty-Morris, Governor Kate Brown, KCEDA Director Greg O’Sullivan

Southern Oregon Business Journal

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The college bubble: what is the true value of higher education?

The value of a college degree…

A degree only has value for its holder (in the form of wages) because employers (those paying the wages) believe it does.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this belief among employers is still strong as there is strong correlation between higher level of degree and higher earnings:

But this correlation is deteriorating.

By: Cole Feldman Author. Blogger. Entrepreneur. Investor Featured in: Editor's Picks, Education, Student Voices

According to data from the College Board, between 2006 and 2014, for those ages 25-34 the differential between college graduate and high school graduate earnings fell 11% for men (to $18,303 from $20,623) and 19.7% for women (to $14,868 from $18,525).

The benefits of a degree are declining while costs rise.

As alternatives prove viable, the degree will continue to lose its value — this is where the college bubble is most likely to pop. ASU professor Jeffrey Selingo explains why: “The big three—the associate’s degree, the bachelor’s degree, and the master’s degree—will no longer be the only college credentials considered in the war for talent, as some industry certifications, badges and new kinds of transcripts will offer assurances to employers that an applicant is job ready.”

But it won't really be so much a "pop" as a gradual decrease in tuition costs. Neal McCluskey, education policy expert at the Cato Institute, explains in an interview: “A natural siphoning off of air from the bubble as cheaper, faster alternatives to four year degree programs emerge.”

This subtle "siphoning off of air from the bubble" is not financial (like Cuban suggests); it's simply business competition — and every traditional "lecture-hall-style" university is going to have their lunch eaten by cheaper, faster alternatives, especially online.

Education and work are changing…

The biggest threat to colleges is technological, not financial. Because the “college bubble” is about more than debt; it’s about the outdated higher education model.

The precipitous fall in tuition prices will come when the opportunity cost of not going to college decreases below the wages garnered from credentials awarded by alternatives.

One such alternative: "a massively enhanced version of today's open online courses." According to a Business Insider article, this is the prediction of futurist Thomas Frey: His vision for 2030 includes a massively enhanced version of today's open online courses — the kind of instruction you may find with Khan Academy, Coursera, or MIT OpenCourseWare. Only, the instructors won't be humans beamed through videos. They'll be bots, and they'll be smart enough to personalize each lesson plan to the child sitting in front of the screen.

Students will stop attending the outdated institutions not because they can't get loans, but simply because there are better options — cheaper and more efficient than sitting in silence with a hundred classmates in a massive lecture hall listening to one guy drone in monotone for 90 minutes about his research.

Southern Oregon Business Journal

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My generation is simply too fast and tech-savvy. All the knowledge exists online. When my classmates don't understand something from lecture (for those that go to lecture), they don't go to office hours; they google it.

And employers are catching on.

Ernst & Young, an accounting firm with 231,000 employees and $29.6 billion annual revenue, just announced removal of degree classifications from their entry criteria: "Our own internal research of over 400 graduates ... found no evidence to conclude that previous success in higher education correlated with future success in subsequent professional qualifications undertaken."

Google doesn't care about degrees either. On some G-teams, 14% of people don't have any college education. Laszlo Bock, senior VP of people operations for Google, says: "G.P.A.’s are worthless as a criteria for hiring, and test scores are worthless. ... We found that they don’t predict anything.”

The cost savings from a decline in tuition prices and freedom from student debt is just icing on the cake — what's really at stake is a drastically improved education system and much clearer signals to the labor market about students' skills.

What is the purpose of higher education???

Traditional higher education does have one major advantage, as professor Richard Vedder points out in the Wall Street Journal: Traditional residential college education will not die because the collegiate years are fun and offer an easy transition from adolescence to adulthood.

For me, the greatest parts of college were meeting new people, staying out too late, studying abroad, summer internships in big cities.

Theorizing that all of education will move online and technology can fix the whole problem ignores the whole human aspect of school. College is about more than class.

So I'm interested in how we can keep all the "good" of college — the "human experience" of college, the environment where we spend those vital transition years from ages 18-22. While getting rid of the bad — the high tuition and debt for the outdated lecture model.

Higher ed is big and bureaucratic. But the edtech alternatives are increasingly viable. The transition will be slow and painful. But if we protect our human-ness while allowing tech to do the heavy lifting where professors are less efficient, I think we can emerge into an unprecedented era of learning.

Cole Feldman grew up on a farm in Kansas. Now he studies finance and philosophy at Notre Dame. Cole is the author of Self, a book about self-actualization. Follow him on Twitter @colejfeldman. He blogs about startups, education, tech and lifehacks.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/college-bubble-what-true-value-higher-education-cole-feldman

Southern Oregon Business Journal

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SOUTHERN OREGON TRIBAL CASINOS

KLA-MO-YA CASINO Chiloquin, Oregon Klamath Tribal Members: The Klamath, The Modoc & The Yahooskin Tribes

THE MILL CASINO North Bend, Oregon Coquille Indian Tribe

SEVEN FEATHERS CASINO RESORT Canyonville, Oregon The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians

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Oregon Indian Tribal Gaming and Employment

by Dallas Fridley January 13, 2017 In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the authority of tribal governments to establish gaming operations independent of state regulation provided that the state in question permits some form of gaming. Congress took up the issue of tribal gaming and conducted a series of hearings, ultimately culminating in the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (IGRA).

The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) – www.nigc.gov – is an independent federal regulatory agency of the United States that was established pursuant to the IGRA. The NIGC website provides a list of gaming tribes and reports on tribal gaming revenue. According to the NIGC, there are eight Indian casinos operating in Oregon.

Nationally, the Indian gaming industry has grown from one that produced $5.5 billion in total revenues in 1995, to one that reached nearly $30 billion in 2015. Since 2010, the Indian gaming industry has experienced 2.6 percent growth annually. The most recent Indian gaming statistics, provided by the NIGC, indicate that in 2015 there were more than 474 Indian gaming establishments in the United States associated with 238 tribes across 28 states; for comparative purposes, state lotteries generate $73.9 billion in total sales for 43 states and the District of Columbia; $231 per capita.

California and Northern Nevada alone generated $7.9 billion in gaming revenues at 71 Indian gaming operations.

In Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, Indian tribes operated 52 gaming facilities and generated $3.0 billion in revenues. Nationally, tribal gaming operations with revenues in excess of $250 million accounted for 45 percent of Indian gaming revenue in 2015 but represented just 6.5 percent of gaming operations, numbering 31.

The contributions of Indian gaming to Oregon’s economy were analyzed by ECONorthwest over 2012 and 2013.

According to the report, Indian tribal gaming stimulated more than $1.4 billion in total economic output statewide, supporting 11,510 jobs and $237.1 million in wages and benefits. Grants and donations from Indian tribes to local charities totaled $6.9 billion in 2013.

Indian Gaming Facilities in Oregon Each of Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes have operated a casino. The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians was the first, opening Cow Creek Indian Bingo in 1992, which was quickly expanded into Seven Feathers Casino.

Five additional casinos were operating by the end of 1995:  Wildhorse – Confederated Tribes of Umatilla  Chinook Winds – Confederated Tribes of Siletz  Indian Head – Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs  The Mill – Coquille Indian Tribe  Spirit Mountain – Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Kla-Mo-Ya Casino – operated by the Klamath Tribes – opened in 1997, followed by Old Camp Casino – operated by the Burns Paiute Tribe – in 1998. The Old Camp Casino closed in late 2012 and plans for a new facility were announced but have yet to materialize. Indian Head Casino changed its name to Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert Resort & Casino in February of 2001, but a new, expanded facility opened in 2012, reverting back to the Indian Head Casino title. Three Rivers Casino – operated by the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw – opened in 2004. An additional gaming facility, Three Rivers CasinoCoos Bay, opened in 2013.

In addition to the nine operating casinos, Oregon’s Indian tribal government employment is spread out across 18 counties. Casino gaming does dominate the employment profile of Indian tribal government, but there are also many other industries and activities that provide jobs.

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Oregon’s Indian Tribal Employment Profile The Indian tribal government employment series dates back to 1995 when it was moved out of private and into local government ownership. In its first year, the Indian tribal government series averaged 3,200 jobs. Although a comparative employment figure for 1994 isn’t available, Indian tribal government entered 1995 with just 2,200 jobs and by December its total reached 4,200, a gain of 2,000 jobs.

Indian tribal government averaged 6,300 workers in 1998, a gain of 3,100 or nearly 100 percent over its 1995 average. And the industry continued to grow, adding 2,500 jobs to average 8,800 in 2012, an increase of nearly 40 percent.

Since 2012, however, Indian tribal government has pulled back, falling to 8,200 jobs in 2015, a trend that has continued in 2016 with employment averaging 8,100 through November. On the payroll side, Indian tribal government shelled out $302 million in 2015 wages and salaries, a slight drop from 2012’s $308 million. On average, Indian tribal jobs paid $37,542 in 2015.

Outside government administrative work and resort and casino employment, 12 percent of Indian tribal government jobs were found in industries that include agriculture, utilities, construction, manufacturing, retail trade, information, financial activities, professional and business services, educational and health services, and other services. In 2015 there were close to 1,000 jobs in this catch -all group.

Indian tribal governments in Oregon operated 66 employer units in the 18 counties shown in the table. Public administration, which typically represents government administrative functions, provided jobs for just over 2,400 workers – or 29.5 percent of the industry’s 2015 average.

Nearly 60 percent (58.5%) of the Indian tribal government total was generated by the amusement, gambling and recreation sector and casino hotels (resort and casino).

Indian tribal resort and casino employment averaged 4,780 jobs in 2015.

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Gaming Occupations at Oregon’s Tribal Casinos

by Tony Wendel January 13, 2017 Currently, Oregon is home to nine tribal casinos located across the state. These casinos, operated by individual Native American tribal councils, provide a variety of employment opportunities in the gaming industry. The purpose of this article is to describe the major occupations at these casinos directly involved with gaming and the working conditions, training requirements, qualifications, advancement opportunities, employment outlook, and wage information for these occupations.

Occupational Descriptions Gaming Managers plan, organize, direct, control, or coordinate gaming operations in a casino and may be responsible for formulating gaming policies for their area of responsibility. They operate under a variety of job titles including casino manager, slot manager, slot operations director, cage manager, floor manager, floor supervisor, gaming director, and pit manager. Their duties require them to be familiar with the games offered at the facility as well as the strategies employed in those games. They circulate among the gaming areas, meeting the customers, ensuring that operations are following gaming regulations, resolving customer complaints, and directing the distribution of complementary hotel rooms, meals, drinks, and other free items given to players based upon their length of play and betting totals. They also interview, hire, train, and evaluate the performance of employees and oversee work scheduling and staffing needs.

Gaming Supervisors supervise gaming operations and personnel in an assigned area. They also operate under a variety of job titles including casino shift manager, shift supervisor, floor supervisor, pit boss, shift manager, and slot shift manager. Among their major duties are monitoring game operations to ensure compliance with house rules as well as tribal, state, and federal regulations, observing players’ behavior for signs of cheating, notifying security staff of suspected cheating, explaining and interpreting house rules, game rules, and betting limits, and resolving customer and employee complaints.

payout amounts at the gaming tables or casino cage. They also report all violations or suspicious behaviors to supervisors for appropriate actions to be taken.

Gaming Dealers operate the various table games offered at the casino. They exchange paper currency for playing chips, ensure that all players have placed bets before play begins, deal cards or operate other gaming equipment according to house and game rules, and pay winnings or collect losing bets according to the rules and procedures of a specific game. They also inspect cards or other equipment to be used in games to ensure that they are in good condition.

Gaming Cage Workers conduct financial transactions for casino patrons. Their main duties include converting gaming checks, coupons, tokens, and coins to currency for customers, cashing checks or processing credit card advances for customers, and selling chips, tokens, or tickets to customers or to other workers for resale to customers.

They also determine cash requirements for windows, order the necessary currency, coins, and chips, and count window funds to balance against transactions.

Slot Supervisors monitor the functions of slot machines to provide service to patrons. They are often called slot key persons, slot attendants, slot technicians, or slot floor persons. Their major duties include verifying and paying out jackpots that are not paid by the slot machines, resetting slot machines after payoffs, monitoring assigned areas to ensure machines are functioning correctly, performing minor repairs or adjustments to slot machines, and taking malfunctioning machines out of play.

Gaming Change Persons and Booth Cashiers exchange coins and tokens for paper currency for customers. Booth cashiers typically work in change booths located in specific areas on the slot floor while change persons move about the slot floor with pushcarts and change belts.

Gaming and Sports Book Writers and Runners assist in the operation of games such as keno and bingo. Typical job titles are keno writer, keno runner, bingo caller, and bingo clerk.

Gaming Surveillance Officers and Gaming Investigators act They issue and collect cards or tickets, operate keno or bingo as oversight and security for management and customers. equipment, call out numbers and monitor game activities, They observe casino operations for irregular activities such and compute and verify winnings and issue payments or reas cheating or theft by employees or patrons. They employ audio and video equipment and sometimes one-way mirrors fer customers to cashiers so that winnings can be collected. above the casino floor to aid them in surveillance. They may Training, Qualifications, and Advancement also use surveillance video to resolve customer disputes of For most gaming occupations, skills are learned mainly Southern Oregon Business Journal

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through on-the-job training. While every casino is subject to certain state and federal regulations, each casino also has its own house policies and procedures for certain transactions or activities which must be learned on the job.

The training for gaming and sports book writers and runners, gaming change persons and booth cashiers, slot key persons, and gaming cage workers is generally short term. The skills for gaming surveillance officers and gaming investigators require moderate on-the-job training. Gaming supervisors usually require long-term on-the-job training to acquire the necessary skills for the occupation.

The gaming occupations that may require more than on-the -job training are gaming managers and gaming dealers.

Most gaming managers are required to have a bachelor’s degree, preferably in management or a related field.

Gaming dealers are a special group. Some may learn the necessary skills on the job, but most often they need to attend classes to learn the skills required to deal or run different games. In a place like Las Vegas there are schools for learning the different table games, but here in Oregon, usually the casino itself offers classes. Another difference with gaming dealers is that they usually must audition in order to get hired. During the audition, those making the hiring decision are looking to see not only how well applicants know the game and how quickly and efficiently they are able to compute and pay winning bets, but also how personable they are and how well they interact with customers.

One qualification that is important in all gaming occupations is excellent customer service skills. Casinos want friendly, personable employees who interact well with customers and make the gambling experience pleasurable whether customers are winning or losing.

Another important skill for casino workers is the ability to

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deal with difficult and unhappy customers pleasantly, as the cards, dice, balls, or slots can’t go everyone’s way. With all the entertainment options available to people today, the importance of making an experience pleasant so that customers will want to return cannot be overestimated.

Also, better service generally equates to larger tips.

Advancement in gaming occupations depends on motivation and attitude. Casinos like to advance employees within the organization after putting in the time to train them on the job. Employees who are willing to learn, quick to learn, and demonstrate excellent customer service will have opportunities to move up to positions of greater responsibility within their department or to transfer to more responsible positions in other departments.

Working Conditions Working conditions for casino workers can be difficult.

Casinos operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year, so workers may have to work swing or graveyard shifts, weekends, and holidays. Most positions require standing for long periods of time and some entail quite a bit of walking. Depending upon the policies of the casino, employees may be exposed to a large amount of secondhand smoke. Generally casinos are very noisy places with coins dropping in metal payout bins, jackpot alarms sounding, loud talking, background music playing, and various other sounds.

Casino workers often must deal with angry, difficult, or inebriated customers. Some, especially supervisors and managers, must deal with the occasional security problems presented by patrons trying to beat the odds by cheating.

The amount of money being exchanged and handled in a casino also presents security risks and problems that workers must constantly be monitoring and protecting against.

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Employment Outlook and Wages

Overall employment in gaming occupations is projected to increase statewide from 2014 to 2024. The Employment Projections table displays the projected increases for each of the gaming occupations described previously. While growth is expected, it is limited by the number of operating casinos. Each Native American tribe in Oregon must enter into a compact with the state to operate a Class III (largescale casino-style) gaming operation. The policy by the Oregon Governor’s Office has been for one such casino per Native American tribe. Unless there is a change in policy to allow tribes to operate more than one Class III casino or to allow the operation of casinos on nontribal lands by tribes

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from other states, the number of tribal casinos is limited by the number of Native American tribes in Oregon.

Wage information for 2016 for these same gaming occupations is displayed in the second table. The employment and wage numbers presented are drawn from information on all employment for these gaming occupations statewide and are not restricted solely to employment in tribal casinos.

Most of the jobs in these occupations are at tribal casinos.

However, there are jobs in some of these occupations at bingo halls, off-track betting parlors, and other similar employers.

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Difficulty Filling Job Vacancies Reaches Four-Year High By: Gail Krumenauer Anecdotes from employers across the state illustrated this challenge: " Few applications; competitive labor market" (Rogue Valley) " Low response to ads and poor response to completing the interview process." (Portland)

Our latest quarterly job vacancy survey results show Oregon businesses reported 52,300 job vacancies in fall 2016. That's an increase of 7,400 job vacancies compared with the prior fall.

The job vacancy numbers reflect continued, strong employment growth in the state. This fall the 2-to-1 ratio of unemployed Oregonians to job vacancies remained its lowest since comparable records began for the third consecutive quarter.

"Zero applicants" (Central Oregon) "Just not many available [applicants] in this area." (Eastern Oregon) With continued job growth and low unemployment, businesses have also reported more difficulty filling job vacancies In fall 2016, the share of all job openings reported as difficult to fill (68%) hit its highest point in the four-year history of the quarterly job vacancy survey. For more than one-third (37%) of all difficult-to-fill vacancies businesses cited a lack of applicants, compared with 30 percent in fall 2015.

Oregon employers also reported far fewer job vacancies paying less than $10 per hour.

That's due in part to the state's rising minimum wage, which moved to $9.75 in one half of the state's counties and $9.50 in the other half as of July. Yet, the biggest increase in job vacancies over the year occurred for job openings paying between $15 and $20 per hour, well above minimum wage. The lack of applicants and other challenges faced by businesses in a competitive labor market could also push up wages.

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cnsnews.com TM

Government Workers Now Outnumber Manufacturing Workers by 9,932,000

By Terence P. Jeffrey | September 2, 2016

(AP Photo)

(CNSNews.com) - Government employees in the United States outnumber manufacturing employees by 9,932,000, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Federal, state and local government employed 22,213,000 people in August, while the manufacturing sector employed 12,281,000.

The BLS has published seasonally-adjusted month-by-month employment data for both government and manufacturing going back to 1939. For half a century—from January 1939 through July 1989—manufacturing employment always exceeded government employment in the United States, according to these numbers.

Then, in August 1989, the seasonally-adjusted employment numbers for government exceeded the employment numbers for manufacturing for the first time. That month, manufacturing employed 17,964,000 and government employed 17,989,000.

Manufacturing employment in the United States had peaked a decade before that in June 1979 at 19,553,000 From August 2015 to August 2016 seasonally-adjusted manufacturing employment declined by 37,000-dropping from 12,318,000 last August to 12,281,000 this August.

The 22,213,000 government employees in August, according to the BLS, included 2,790,000 federal employees, 5,120,000 state government employees, and 14,303,000 local government employees.

Terence P. Jeffrey

CNSNews.com is a division of the Media Research Center.

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Nearly One in Four Workers in Oregon is 55 or Older

Although older workers are a smaller share of the workforce in metro counties, there are a lot more of them.

Multnomah County alone has more workers over the age of 55 (104,000 workers) than all of rural Oregon combined (61,000). However, Multnomah County has nearly as many workers in the next youngest age group (100,000 workers ages 45 to 54), while rural Oregon has far fewer workers in the next youngest age group (49,000 workers ages 45 to 54). In general, metro counties will have an easier time filling vacancies left by retiring workers from their local workforce. Rural counties will need to recruit workers from other areas to sustain the size of their current workforces.

Brought to you by the Research Division of the Oregon Employment Department Oregon’s workforce is aging. The number of Oregon jobs held by workers age 55 and over tripled from 1992 to 2015, while the total number of jobs grew by just 42 percent. Workers 55 and over held just 10 percent of the jobs in 1992, increasing their share to 23 percent of all jobs by 2015. Driving this trend is the fact that much of the Baby Boom Generation is now 55 and over, and they are more likely to be in the labor force than previous generations were at this age. Many of these workers are probably planning to retire in the next 10 years, taking their skills and experience with them.

Although the aging workforce is a general demographic trend, it impacts employers, industries, or regions to varying degrees. Employers should know the age profile of their own workforce so they can plan accordingly for increased turnover from retirees. At a broader level, workforce planners need to know the demographic profiles of entire industries and regions to help gauge the need for future replacement workers.

Rural Counties Have Older Workforces Rural county workforces tend to have a higher share of older workers and will feel the impact of the aging workforce more than metro counties. In counties outside metropolitan areas, more than one out of four (27%) workers are 55 years or older. That represents more than 61,000 workers in rural Oregon who are probably hoping to retire within the next decade.

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To learn about industries that have an older workforce, read "Oregon’s Aging Workforce by Industry and County, 2015", written by State Employment Economist Nick Beleiciks.

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The increasing demand for a trained and skilled workforce continues to outpace the availability of qualified candidates.

America’s employment picture is a mixed bag of social, private business, and public employment issues. Skilled employees are in demand across all industries as the economy struggles to gain footing because of a shortage of job candidates with the skills to fill job vacancies.

Generational demographics are more diverse than ever as the Baby Boomer generation rapidly moves into retirement with three generations following behind them whose technical and computer awareness is having difficulties supplying the population of skilled individuals new industries demand. With these new generations is a social drive to locate in areas with higher pay and proximity to modern housing, recreational and entertainment offerings, plus educational opportunities usually located in larger metropolitan communities. Small towns and rural areas are forced to be more creative in their recruitment efforts to draw younger generations to fill the needs of private industries as well as small-town public employment.

There are more employed Americans than ever in our history. But, we’re running out of people with the training and skills to enter the new technically demanding jobs that resulted from the rapidly expanding industries of the modern age.

A change in industrial job skills is only part of the challenge. Demographics of the candidate pool is also changed since the 1970’s when the computer age was taking a foothold in the workplace. Programming skills applied to new platforms and technically enhanced development processes also demand a mindset that accepts flexibility in creativity, especially in an age that often knows no borders. A team of technicians may now be connected around the world on a single project while never occupying a workplace in the same country.

The New Era workforce needed crosses most industries creating competition for candidates in the Public Sector and the Private Sector. Concern is growing among private sector businesses who must compete for skilled employees directly with public employers. Recruiting skilled candidates will require more knowledge of things like salaries, benefits and workplace flexibilities that may not have been common in the specific industry until the Public/Private competition arose.

Generational demands are also a necessary consideration. The change in mindset and work environments often necessitate adjustments in workplace layout and employer/employee relationships. The challenge for recruiters is to understand the critical need for flexibility.

Greg Henderson, Publisher Southern Oregon Business Journal

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“Simply put, a less dynamic and entrepreneurial economy is one less likely to offer access to the American Dream.”

“Throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, between 3.0 percent and 3.5 percent of the country’s population moved states each year. Over subsequent decades, the migration rate more than halved to a low of 1.5 percent in 2006, where it remained through 2016. The trend holds for every crosssection of society.

As with job turnover, several forces have conspired to lower domestic migration rates. Demographic explanations such as the aging of the population or the rise in dual-earner households only feature marginally.

Instead, scholars attribute most of the fall directly to the broader decline in economic dynamism: As fewer firms open and close and fewer employment opportunities present themselves everywhere, fewer people of all ages and education levels move long distances. The share of people moving between states for job-related reasons has fallen even faster since 2000 than the share of movers n the population overall.

Simply put, reduced churn among companies results in reduced churn among workers, fewer moves, and a less flexible and dynamic labor market.

In essentially every measurable respect, the storied dynamism of the U.S. economy is fading.

Diminished dynamism carries with it a number of implications for regions, markets, and workers, and it goes a long way towards explaining the fundamental challenges facing the U.S. economy today.”

Dynamism in Retreat: Consequences for Regions, Markets, and Workers February 2017 Economic Innovation Group http://eig.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Dynamism-in-Retreat.pdf

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IT SECURITY CHALLENGE

  

www.defensestorm.com

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206-512-869

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“Navigate the cyber risk landscape…”

Jenny Menna is Vice President and Cybersecurity Partnership Executive at U.S. Bank. She leads collaboration initiatives with industry and government to advance the cybersecurity posture of U.S. Bank, and the financial sector.

Jenny Menna brought her expertise to the first Chamber Forum of 2017 with a topic that is on the minds of everyone.

Speaking to an audience of 300 chamber members, her information underscored the seriousness of cyber security in every walk of our daily lives.

She left us with direct information that has been developed at US Bank and shared in the nation’s business and national security community. Jenny’s service at the national level with the Department of Homeland Security and in private industry with US Bank make her a valuable resource in developing strategies to deal with potential threats to communication systems. Her instructions were clearly urgent and serious in today’s environment.

Get security that keeps up with your life.

Your smartphone has much more in common with your desktop computer than with your old mobile phone. Criminals know you’re literally carrying a small “PC” in your pocket and will do all they can to access your personal information. Following a few simple steps can dramatically reduce your risk of having your money and identity stolen.

Follow these tips to stay secure on-the-go.

If your smartphone is lost or stolen  First, follow the recommended steps of your mobile service provider to report a lost or stolen phone.  If you’re using the new U.S. Bank Mobile app, there’s no need to contact us or change your Personal ID or Password. When you get your new phone, download the new app or sign in to the Mobile Web to continue your mobile banking.  If you're using Text Banking call 800-US BANKS (8722657) or log in to Online Banking and choose “Text Banking” to cancel Mobile Banking services for that phone or device.  As always, you'll want to monitor your accounts for suspicious activity. If you notice anything that concerns you call us right away at 800-US BANKS (872-2657).

Password-protect your smartphone  Always lock your phone when it’s not in use.  Set your phone to automatically lock after being idle for a set amount of time.  Set your phone to use a longer and stronger password than the default 4-digit unlock code if this option is available on your phone.  For even better security, set your phone to erase all data after 10 bad password attempts.

Clear data from your smartphone frequently  Delete text messages from financial institutions, especially before sharing, discarding, or selling your phone.  If you visit the U.S. Bank website using your phone, delete the cookies and cache regularly.  Better yet, use our dedicated apps for online banking.

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Always download apps from reputable sources  Criminals try to lure people into signing up for mobile banking using fake apps and/or websites.  Always visit the U.S. Bank Mobile Banking site to verify the sources of your online banking applications.  If you’re considering adding an app to your mobile device, review the app’s permissions so you understand what the app is capable of doing before you decide to download it.

Don’t fall for phishing scams  Phishers create links that look legitimate but instead direct you to malicious websites when you select them.  Due to the small screen size in smartphones, it’s even harder to spot whether a link is legitimate. If you need to access a website, type in the address yourself.

Remove personal information before replacing your smartphone.  Don’t rely on carriers, recycling firms or phone deposit banks to “clean” your phone before disposal or resale to third parties.  Follow your phone manufacturer’s instructions to remove all personal information from your phone before decommissioning it.

Chamber Forum Sponsored by U.S. Bank

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CONNECTED COMMERCE IS CREATING BUYERS WITHOUT BORDERS The online retail ecosystem is fast evolving, and increasingly, shoppers no longer simply go to the nearest store.

Rather, they grab the nearest digital device. And with the world at our fingertips, why only shop domestically? In fact, digital analytics firm eMarketer projects that online retail sales will more than double between 2015 and 2019 and account for more than 12% of global sales by 2019. Retail therapy is giving way to e-tail therapy.

To gain a better understanding of how consumers are navigating the connected commerce landscape, the Nielsen Global Connected Commerce Survey polled respondents in 26 countries. We looked at how consumers are using the Internet to make shopping decisions both in stores and online, and we examined what they’re buying, where they’re purchasing and how they’re paying for goods and services.

While connected commerce is still largely a domestic affair, with consumers primarily ordering from retailers in their own country, cross-border ecommerce is a growing phenomenon. Shoppers are increasingly looking outside their country’s borders, as more than half of online respondents in the study who made an online purchase in the past six months say they bought from an overseas retailer (57%).

Nearly three-quarters of Indian respondents* who purchased online in the past six months say they bought items from an overseas retailer (74%). But this isn’t just a developing-market trend. Roughly two-thirds of respondents in the Western European countries in the survey say they purchased from an overseas retailer, including 79% in Italy—

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the highest percentage in the online study—and 73% in Germany.

“Retail has been one of the last holdouts of globalization, but technology is giving consumers access to a world of products previously unavailable,” said Patrick Dodd, president, Nielsen global retailer vertical. “Choice is greatly enhanced by cross-border e-commerce. In many developing markets, the growing middle class is trading up and demanding greater assortment than found at their domestic retailer. For example, these consumers are looking overseas to purchase authentic foreign brands, often at lower prices than they can find in their home country.

Meanwhile, developed-market consumers gain access to a range of goods directly from foreign companies at often significant discounts to what they would pay domestically.

But with huge opportunity comes great challenge. With more choices available to consumers than ever before, the shopping experience becomes a key differentiator between banners. Optimizing the experience starts with a deep understanding of the local market, including local perceptions, delivery infrastructure, technology adoption and use, financial and currency systems and regulatory and customs requirements. In addition, retailers must ensure that products meet quality standards, prices are set reasonably, logistics systems are safe and efficient and after-sales service is optimized for fair refunding/exchanging processes.

Other findings from the recent Global Connected Commerce report include: 

The most commonly used payment methods among countries in the survey were credit card (53%) and digital payment systems (43%), but cash on delivery is common in developing markets.



Nearly half of online respondents in the study (49%) say they shop online to get grocery products they can’t find in physical stores.

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More than half (57%) of online respondents say they have doubts that e-commerce sites will keep their personal information secure and confidential.



Six-in-10 online respondents say they’ll only shop online for electronics (62%) and mobile products (61%) if it saves them money.

*Internet penetration in India is 30%.

For more detail and insight, download Nielsen’s Global Connected Commerce Report.

About the Nielsen Global Connected Commerce Survey The Nielsen Global Connected Commerce Survey was conducted between August and October 2015 and polled more than 13,000 consumers in 26 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and North America.

Head Office - Australia Level 2, Building B, 11 Talavera Road Macquarie Park NSW 2113 Tel: +61.2.8873.7000

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DOWN TO BUSINESS A look at small business questions from the Southwestern Oregon Community College Small Business Development Center (SBDC).

What leadership style works best in small business?

By: Arlene M. Soto CMA, Southwestern SBDC Director

The best leadership style to use is more about the situation and your personal preferences. What works well in one small business might be totally wrong for another. In circumstances where quick action is required, an inclusive style might take too much time. Given the low number of employees in a small businesses, an authoritarian style might alienate personnel or stifle creativity needed to respond to market needs.

Leadership style has been defined as the behaviors used to direct, motivate, guide and manage groups of people to accomplish necessary tasks. Psychologist Kurt Lewin and a group of researchers started studying and classifying leadership styles in 1939. They identified three main types: authoritarian, democratic (participative) and laissez-fair (delegative). Since then, the characteristics of leadership style have been further defined to include additional styles such as transformational, transactional and situational.

Authoritarian leaders tend to make decisions with little or no input from subordinates, this style is focused on command and control. It works well when decisions need to be made quickly or the leader has more knowledge than the rest of the group. The military is a good example of where this style is frequently used. Unfortunately, it can cause hostile work environments when employees don’t feel their opinion or skills matter.

Lewin’s study found democratic leadership to be the most effective for accomplishing tasks. With this style everyone in the group has a say in the decisions. Outcomes tend to be of higher quality even though they take longer than under authoritarian leadership. Most employees prefer this leadership style. However, this style is not effective in situations where action must be taken quickly.

Laissez-fair leaders delegate tasks and authority to others, providing little or no guidance to subordinates. This style is only effective in situations where the team is highly qualified and self-directed. Unfortunately, errors can result in blaming and no one taking responsibility.

Transformational leaders are usually passionate, high energy and have high emotional intelligence. They produce results through building up followers. Groups with transformational leaders tend to be highly productive.

Much has been published about leadership styles and other definitions are often used. It’s important for any leader to understand their primary style and work to develop skills prominent in other styles to achieve the best results in diverse situations.

The SBDC is a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Oregon Small Business Development Center Network, the Oregon Business Development Department and Southwestern Oregon Community College. Arlene M. Soto has been the Director of the Southwestern Small Business Development Center since July 2007. To ask a question call 541-756-6445, e-mail asoto@socc. Edu. Additional help is available at the OSBDCN Web page www.bizcenter.org.

Southwestern Oregon Community College

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Direct Deposit of Employee Wages

Q. I was just hired and my employer handed me paperwork to go on direct deposit. I prefer to get a paper paycheck. Since it´s my money, it seems like it should be my choice.

A. According to ORS 652.110 employers may require employees go on direct deposit without employee consent. Previously, employers and employees had to agree to authorize direct deposit but since 2014, employers can have direct deposit as the default. Employees must now proactively opt out of direct deposit. Employees can opt out of direct deposit verbally or in writing. Employees unable or unwilling to go on direct deposit will likely notify their employer immediately. If they make this request, employers can also point them to electronic options such as debit cards.

Before requiring an employee, as a condition of employment, to go on direct deposit employers should consult with an employment attorney. The Agency or a court may conclude, for public policy reasons, that making direct deposit mandatory is improper even at the pre-employment stage.

Some prospective employees may be credit challenged and unable to qualify for an institution to have their wages directly deposited.

Employers who do use the direct deposit method of paying wages should be aware that doing so doesn´t change the strict deadlines for paying an employee´s final wages upon termination.

However, the law says that even the final paycheck may be paid by direct deposit, "provided the employee and the employer have agreed to such deposit." ORS 652.140 (4).

Q. Is it legal for an employer to pay wages by issuing employees a "debit card" that can be "swiped" at local banks or institutions for cash or merchandise?

A. P ayment of w ages by debit card is legal and permitted by ORS 652.110 (5) if the employer and employee agree to this arrangement.

Also, the instrument of payment - in this case, the debit card - must be negotiable and "payable without discount in cash on demand at some bank or other established place of business" in the county where it is issued. The Bureau´s interpretation of this statutory language is that the employee must be able to receive the full amount of his or her wages by swiping the card and may not be charged any fee for doing so.

BOLI’s DISCLAIMER Nothing on this website is intended as legal advice. Any responses to specific questions are based on the facts as we understand them, and not intended to apply to any other situations. This communication is not an agency order. If you need legal advice, please consult an attorney. We attempt to update the information on this website as soon as practicable following changes or developments in the laws and rules affecting Oregon employers, but we make no warranties or representations, express or implied, about whether the information provided is current. We urge you to check the applicable statutes and administrative rules yourself and to consult with legal counsel prior to taking action that may invoke employee rights or employer responsibilities or omitting to act when required by law to act.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR EMPLOYERS 800 NE OREGON STREET, STE 1045 PORTLAND, OR 97232 971-673-0824

Southern Oregon Business Journal

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Small Businesses

Businesses that don’t make a big deal out of themselves are tucked away in every corner of the country. They employ most of the people in the U.S. No fanfare, just doing their share of important things for humanity.

Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc. is a couple of streets off the main street in Grants Pass, Oregon. The company has been in business for 30 years. About 24 people work there. ““Myco” – “rhiza” literally means “fungus” – “root” and describes the mutually beneficial relationship between the plant and root fungus. These specialized fungi colonize plant roots and extend far into the soil. Mycorrhizal fungal filaments in the soil are truly extensions of root systems and are more effective in nutrient and water absorption than the roots themselves. More than 90 percent of plant species in natural areas form a symbiotic relationship with the beneficial mycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhizal fungi increase the surface absorbing area of roots 100 to 1,000 times, thereby greatly improving the ability of the plant to access soil resources. Several miles of fungal filaments can be present in less than a thimbleful of soil.”

That’s small business doing something important.

Fewer small business startups have occurred in the last few years than since the 1970’s. Studies have determined numerous reasons that explain this. However, there is a growing trend among the Millennial generation to take the adventurous leap to discover the self-fulfilling thrill of accomplishment that entrepreneurialism can provide. Keep a look out for an increasing number of small businesses in the startup stage of development. They may be a very important catalyst in the economy and survival of the planet.

Greg Henderson, Publisher

Southern Oregon Business Journal

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