The first round of voting in the 2024 Coolest Thing Made in Oregon contest concluded Sept. 23, narrowing the list of finalists to eight – and Corvallis’ Agility Robotics has again made the cut, the only local firm to do so this year.
The next round of voting will cut the field of finalists to four, and any Oregonian can vote – we think you can guess what we at The Advocate are hoping you’ll do. The deadline to cast a ballot for the next cut is September 30, and you can click here to do that, right now.
Also, you can download a printable bracket and learn about all of the Coolest Thing finalists on the Oregon Business & Industry website by clicking here..
Voting began two weeks ago with 16 finalists representing a wide variety of products manufactured throughout the state, from Tillamook to Bend. The other finalists include an airplane, a blanket, a multitool, a chainsaw chain, a hydrogen generator, a UAV fuel cell and ice cream.
An expert panel chose this year’s initial finalists from among more than 100 products nominated by Oregonians over the spring and summer. The manufacturer of the winning product will receive formal recognition and enjoy bragging rights for producing Oregon’s coolest thing. At least until next year, when Oregonians will identify a new coolest thing.
The eight remaining finalists and their company locations:
- Agility Robotics’ Digit (Corvallis/Tangent)
- Element 1’s Hydrogen Generator (Bend)
- Epic Aircraft’s E1000 GX (Bend)
- Leatherman’s Multitool (Portland)
- Northwest UAV’s UAV Fuel Cell (McMinnville)
- Oregon Tool’s Diamond Chainsaw Chain(Portland)
- Pendleton Woolen Mill’s Yakima Wool Blanket (Pendleton)
- Tillamook’s Ice Cream (Tillamook
The Coolest Thing Made in Oregon contest, now in its second year, is presented by Oregon Business & Industry in partnership with Here is Oregon.
Benton County Employment Numbers for August Released
Benton County’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.2% in August, unchanged from its revised rate of 3.2% in July. Oregon’s statewide unemployment rate in August was 4.0%, down slightly from its revised July rate of 4.1%.
Benton County’s employment losses in August were slightly more than normal; total nonfarm employment decreased by 270 jobs, when an employment decrease of 150 jobs would be expected. As a result, seasonally adjusted employment decreased 120 jobs between July and August.
Seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment is now up 4.0% from the level in February 2020, 1,730 jobs above its pre-pandemic level. Over the past year Benton County’s seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment is up 740 jobs or 1.7%.
The private sector overall shed 10 jobs over the month. Private education and health services added 70 jobs. That helped to offset some of the losses in leisure and hospitality, which had an employment decline of 90 in August.
The public sector overall shed 260 jobs in August. Local government education employment decreased 250. State government and federal government were both unchanged.
Can a Homebuilder Afford a Corvallis House?
Federal funding for infrastructure projects has surged since 2021 as Congress has allocated billions for rebuilding and expanding a wide array of projects, and there’s also been a surge in private building. Because of this spending growth and a persistent inability to recruit and train the next generation of construction workers, the construction industry is facing a major worker shortage.
One industry trade association estimates 454,000 new workers will be required, on top of normal hiring, to meet the booming demand in 2025.
However, despite this substantial need, elevated home prices together with construction wages failing to keep pace with inflation mean it can be difficult for construction workers to afford to purchase a home in the cities where they work. Corvallis does not fare well in this regard.
Researchers ranked metros across the country according to the number of weekly work hours needed for a construction worker earning the median hourly industry wage to afford a median-priced home in their location, spending no more than 30% of their income on housing.
Here’s how that looks in Corvallis: Construction workers in the Corvallis metro earn a median hourly wage of $28.53. Meanwhile, the monthly mortgage payment for a median-priced home in the Corvallis metro stands at $2,806. This means that construction workers in the Corvallis metro, assuming they are spending no more than 30% of their income on housing, would have to work 76 hours a week to afford a median-priced home – almost double a typical 40-hour work week.
The research came from industry insurer Construction Coverage, the full results of the analysis include data on over 380 U.S. metros and all 50 states.
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