green jobs

St. Charles Health System led the pack of Central Oregon top employers, a position its held for the past two decades, according to the Economic Development for Central Oregon annual survey.

Each year the nonprofit, Economic Development for Central Oregon, ranks the top employers in the region. The top five employers in 2021 include St. Charles with 4,626 employees, Bright Wood Corp. regional office with 1,093 employees, Sunriver Resort with 1,000 and Les Schwab Headquarters and tire centers regional with 890 employees, according to the annual list.

“As the Central Oregon region grows, so grows the demand for health care services _ and that translates into jobs,” said Jenn Welander, St. Charles’ chief financial officer. “Health care is a labor intensive business, with our caregivers’ salaries accounting for about 60% of our operating costs.”

The semi-isolation of Central Oregon sets up the region for just one hospital system, said Roger Lee, Economic Development for Central Oregon CEO. St. Charles has four hospitals each located in Bend, Redmond, Prineville and Madras.

The number of employees in Central Oregon has been tracked for the past 20 years and is used to paint an economic picture to lure new business to the area by EDCO.

“Similar sized regions adjacent to other metros may have multiple hospital systems serving a broader region, which has the effect of splitting that employment up over multiple employers so perhaps they don’t end up being at the No. 1 spot, but still very much being high on the list,” Lee said.

Except for the No. 1 and 2 place, the list shows a lot of movement up and down. For example Les Schwab at No. 4 in 2021 was the third largest employer in 2019. And Lonza went from No. 14 in 2019 to 10th largest employer in Central Oregon.

What the list does show is that many companies lost employees over the past year due to shut downs from efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

One example is Rosendin Electric in Redmond went from the eighth largest employer in 2019 to to the 16th.

With restrictions lifting when the county moved from high to moderate risk for spreading COVID-19, more businesses are able to open and add employees in Central Oregon, according to Damon Runberg, Oregon Employment Department regional economist’s February employment report. Around seven out of every 10 jobs lost during the initial COVID-19 shock were added back across the region in February, Runberg reported.