OROFINO, Idaho (AP) - David Bartlett stopped frequently to chat with friends as he made inquiries with employers at a recent Idaho Department of Labor job fair in Orofino.
The nonchalance of the former Tri-Pro Forest Products employee and father of five children disguised very real stress.
“My last paycheck is coming up,” said Bartlett, of Kooskia. “After that, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I hope I find something.”
Without something, Bartlett’s family will be forced to make ends meet with the part-time paycheck his wife earns at Kamiah’s senior center.
Bartlett isn’t alone. Close to 60 people lost their jobs when Tri-Pro shuttered its mill near Orofino in October as it struggled to find enough logs to feed the mill.
An unknown number of them have already landed other positions. Some of those who haven’t are exploring their options. They join others looking for a career to replace whatever haphazard income they have been cobbling together in a county battered by a declining timber industry.
The two groups are large enough that the midweek job fair drew a crowd at a time when the economy is strong enough that many employers are struggling to find quality applicants.
Success for Bartlett could mean a lengthy commute. Clearwater County has the highest unemployment rate in Idaho, even though neighboring Nez Perce County has one of the stronger manufacturing bases in the nation.
Overall, north central Idaho’s unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in September. Increasingly, however, the jobs are concentrated in Lewiston at large employers such as Vista Outdoor, Clearwater Paper and Howell Munitions and Technology.
Clearwater County’s unemployment rate was 7.4 percent in September, the most recent month for which numbers are available.
That figure doesn’t fully describe how tough Clearwater County’s job market is. It doesn’t account for the jobs lost at Tri-Pro, which continued a trend that started in 2000 when Potlatch closed its Pierce plywood mill.
The number of jobs in the county has declined from 3,300 before Jaype’s closure to 2,800 now.
Plus, people are counted as employed even when they work just a few hours per month and only make a fraction of what it takes to keep a household afloat.
In that environment, jobs at Tri-Pro were highly prized. Two years ago, Bartlett became a chip tender in the boiler, which was a move up from seasonal flagging on road projects.
Becoming a jailer either in Clearwater or Nez Perce counties seems to be one of his best prospects to replace the Tri-Pro income, Bartlett said. “It’s something that’s year-round, that’s dependable.”
Just like Bartlett, Clifford Zierlein of Orofino thought his job doing cleanup at Tri-Pro was his happy ending when he landed it a year ago. Zierlein had driven trucks and was ready for something a little less exhausting. Tri-Pro, he hoped, would be the employer that would carry him to retirement, which only felt a few short years away.
Now, he’s still a little surprised to be starting over, sending in job applications and living with his dad.
“We all have bills to pay,” Zierlein said. “I have to cut corners on what to spend.”
Neil O’Brien is also watching his budget carefully. He had been doing cleanup at Tri-Pro for six months, after having worked for Green Things Nursery. The $12.50 per hour he made was a high enough wage that he had traded in his old pickup truck on a newer one.
“I thought I had it made,” O’Brien said. “They shut down without any warning.”
He has interviewed with Idaho Forest Group in Lewiston to be a utility operator. “It would be so great if I got a call from them.”
It isn’t just those without positions who are seeking new opportunities in the Clearwater County area.
Daniel Lattimer of Kooskia is still trying to make up the ground he lost when the Great Recession hit. He lived in the Boise area and was a certified construction worker. “I made good money doing that,” Lattimer said.
There was also something else: a sense of accomplishment that he hasn’t felt since. He loved that he could go back and admire the craftsmanship of the custom homes he built. “That was the best work I ever did,” Lattimer said.
Since then, the father of two has flagged for road projects and done forestry work. The flagging forced him to be itinerant, often camping at whatever spot he could find close to the project.
Now he wants more stability. His wife is too ill to work and they have a young child. He also helps supports an older child in another state.
A position with the Idaho Transportation Department could be the answer, especially since he already has some familiarity with the work it does through flagging. If not, he might pursue leads from ITD about flagging companies in this region.
It’s not just job applicants who are feeling pressure.
More than 15 businesses and government agencies devoted a half day to the job fair, something that is particularly significant at a time when most employers have online applications, said Diane Hairston, regional business specialist with the Idaho Department of Labor. “It’s a job seekers’ market. The unemployment rate is so low that they’re having trouble finding warm bodies.”
Clearwater Paper officials were hoping to connect with millwrights, equipment operators and instrumentation technicians with experience in the wood products industry, said Shannon Inzunza, human resources and labor representative.
Inzunza was collecting resumes and conducting short interviews, looking for candidates for those types of positions since they can be tough to fill.
“We’re just recruiting,” Inzunza said. “We don’t have any openings this minute. We have a number of employees (who are) retirement eligible.”
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Information from: Lewiston Tribune, https://www.lmtribune.com
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