Oregon Public Broadcasting

The unemployment rate in Oregon remains above 11-percent, according to the state.

That is still one of the worst rates in the nation.

But if unemployment is mediocre in urban areas, it’s truly awful in rural parts of Oregon.

In Harney County, the unemployment rate is above 19-percent.

Many of Oregon’s formerly timber-heavy counties share those scary numbers.

From Burns, we’ve been tracking the story of Mike Rust, a 61-year-old natural gas pipeline worker jobless for 15 months.

Ethan Lindsey returned to Burns to find Rust still in search of a paycheck.

When we first met Mike Rust earlier this year in May, he was sitting in a truckstop on the main road through town.

Back then, he was lamenting the loss of his union health benefits. His wife suffers from diabetes and like everybody else, he needs to go to the doctor every once in a while.

Mike Rust: “So far, I’ve been lucky, I haven’t gotten sick. But, we’re as they say, running naked.”

Across the street is the old Louisiana Pacific saw mill, which closed for good in 2007 – costing the county more than 100 jobs that paid well.

Rust started out in the timber industry – but when that slowed two decades back, he saw potential in the growing natural gas business.

For the past few years, he’s laid natural gas pipelines around the West.

He said he loved his job – and was hoping he would be promoted to work as a pipeline ‘inspector’ when he got his next contract.

That job would involve a little less manual labor – something he’d appreciate, he says, at his age.

Mike Rust: “Well, I liken it to working in the woods – except a lot of them time there aren’t many trees, there’s just a lot of dirt and a lot of mud. I belong to a laborers’ union and they had that type of work going on, and I don’t like working inside – I like working outside.”

The next time we caught up with Rush over the summer he was still unemployed. We talked to him as he stood outside swinging his axe, chopping wood for the coming winter.

Mike Rust: “We used to have an oil furnace, but, we got rid of the oil furnace. You might as well just take your money and throw your money in the furnace.”

Today, sitting next to where that oil furnace used to be, Rust remains out of work.

In the corner of his living room, Rust has a newer wood stove and a pile of stacked wood on a Radio Flyer red wagon.

Mike Rust: “I’m just getting tired. Tired of waiting.”

He says this is the longest he’s been unemployed since he was just out of high school.

Mike Rust: “Trust in the Lord that something will happen. I’m waiting for spring. That’s why it’s always worked in construction or logging, generally. You had to have a winter-time off, unless they were big jobs. But this has just been...bad.”

Rust says he’s still chopping wood – but he’s also added another chore to the daily routine.

Mike Rust: “Sounds like things aren’t happening in the winter. What are you going to do this winter? Shovel snow. Keep the burning going, that’s about it.”

But, Rust says those tasks obviously won’t pay the bills.

And that’s a big concern. Rust has been unemployed for so long, his unemployment benefits check from the government is scheduled to run out in January.

It’s not as if he isn’t looking – the problem is, few new gas pipes will be built this time of year.

Mike Rust: “There is one job, out of Utah. And it’s supposed to start in November, and then they delayed it to December, and then January, and then mid-January. I just talked to another person, they said,  ‘maybe February.’ So, it’ll probably be next spring. Maybe.”

Rust says that’s his gut instinct. And while investors say natural gas is a good bet, they also say the growth in natural gas won’t be immediate.

CNBC: “But the longer term, yes, natural gas is a wonderful place to be over the coming decade. And when we look at all energies, you’re going to see some growth, absolutely.”

That’s CNBC’s rosy predication for the future of natural gas, and it mirrors what others are saying on Wall Street.

Rust doesn’t pay much attention to the business news. But he hopes he can find work in the industry now, so that he can retire in ten years.

Still, for Rust, a union job soon would mean he could earn back some health benefits – which would help him, and his diabetic wife.

Rust recognizes that he may need to compromise.

He’s looking at moving to Wyoming, where natural gas work is easier to get.

And he’s widened his job search from the lower-stress, higher-pay ‘inspector’ gigs that he was targeting over the summer.

Mike Rust: “It’s hard to do real hard labor when you pass up 60. You were looking at inspector jobs, last time we met. Now, I’m taking anything that comes along. And I am looking at suggestions of any types of jobs, but haven’t figured anything out yet.”

As he thinks back on the many months of unemployment, he says it makes him contemplate his chosen career path.

Mike Rust: “This recession has taught me that if you are a young person, stay in school and get an education. It’ll always help you down the road. I wish I was a lot smarter in high school, I could have went to college. That’s what this has taught me!”

But Rust says he’s like the millions of Oregonians who grew up in the post-World War Two era, when working in the outdoors seemed like a natural fit.

Mike Rust: “I don’t think I had much choice. I mean, I didn’t think about it at the time. And do I regret it? No. That’s what Oregon’s main staple was, timber. And it’s too bad it can’t come back.”

Rust is a few years from the age when he may be able to retire and collect social security benefits.

He just hopes things turn around before then.