Oregon Public Broadcasting

Construction employment in Oregon has fallen by an average 16 percent since last year, according to a report by the Associated General Contractors of America. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

The trade association looked at the largest 300 metro areas in the nation and ranked them for the loss of construction jobs. Bend ranked 240th, Portland 241st and Salem 290th -- making them among the worst hit in the nation.

Don Laskey runs a construction company out of Coos Bay, which has also been badly hit. He says what’s saved about 15 positions in his company is federal stimulus money.

Don Laskey: “We started seeing a decline in the number of jobs back in 2008 and a real increase in competition for the projects. But we were able to get some asphalt paving projects, that were stimulus contracts that totaled almost $5 million.”

An economist with the Associated General Contractors says the nation has seen a lot of paving projects over the last few months -- mainly because those could be started quickly.

Now, he thinks, stimulus spending will gradually change focus to longer-horizon, more complex building projects.