Oregon offers insight into the results of the Clinton Administration's efforts. Between 1989 and 1994, Oregon lost 15,000 forest-related jobs. But during the same period the state gained 20,000 jobs in other areas such as high technology, thanks to the Hewlett Packard Corporation expanding its operations in the state and the Sony Corporation's new factory outside of Eugene. Oregon's unemployment rate is its lowest in 25 years. In 1995 for the first time in the state's history forest-related industries were replaced as the leading employer.
High technology is now number one.
And still, Oregon is among the nation's leading producers of timber, despite the reductions in old growth logging. Owls and old growth forests are being protected. Unemployment is low as the number of jobs increases, even in Oregon's most timber-dependent areas. Thanks to the job retraining programs and economic incentives for businesses, new employment opportunities are not minimum wage service industry jobs with little room for advancement, but skills-laden opportunities in diverse fields. Instead of being up to their necks in owls and jobless millworkers, Oregonians are up to their ears in jobs and unemployment rates throughout the state are largely lower than the national average.