More Crook County Mill Jobs Disappearing

Unemployment is rising fast – and inCrook County, 12.4 percent of residents already don’t have jobs, according to the latest figures.

Recent cuts made by three large Prineville employers are putting more people out of work, and it could be years before those companies fill lost jobs again.

“We’re anticipating early 2010 before we start to see this thing go in the other direction,” Woodgrain Millwork General Manager Benji Barron said Wednesday.

Les Schwab Tires was the first Prineville company to make cuts this year, slashing four percent of their workforce in the community.

Chera Elliot had over 10 years invested in the company before she lost her job.

“Because of the economy, they had to let people go,” she said. “So as of Feb. 4, I will no longer have any benefits, or anything to do with the company.”

Elliot was one of 27 employees laid off from the Prineville facilities this month.

While the tire giant is hurting, those tied to the housing industry say they’ve been hit the hardest.

Elliott said, “I spoke with a man who had been with Contact Industries for over 43 years, who lost his job, just two days after I lost mine.”

Contact Industries and Woodgrain Millwork, both Prineville construction suppliers, say business has nearly halted, leading to cuts, due to 2009’s projected profit losses.

Contact Industries made its announcement last week, cutting 45 employees in this round of layoffs. That’s the third round in a year, adding up to 30 percent of its workforce in the last 12 months.

The most recent job cuts in Prineville: 14 laid off from Woodgrain Millwork, that company’s third round of cuts in a year as well, 24 percent of the total.

“It’s devastating, there’s no question,” Barron said. “It’s been very difficult to downsize.”

Making this the third round of layoffs in a year for this company also.

All the layoffs have left hundreds of people in Prineville wondering how they’ll find another job.

“Who wants to hire someone in their mid-50s, and train them and put all that time into them?” Elliott said.