Statewide News: Jobless Teens and Wood Exports

If you're scratching your head, trying to figure out how the subjects in today's blog titled are related, that's okay. The connection is hard to see...because the topics are totally unrelated to one another, except for the fact that they are both news stories related to the workforce!

The first item -- Jobless Teens -- relates to a recent story in the Portland Business Journal. The article reports that Oregon teens are facing 31 percent unemployment. Of all the state's in the U.S., Oregon ranks third-highest in teen unemployment, "behind California and Nevada." To get all the details, please see the original article. Among other subjects, the article proposes a few reasons why Oregon's teens are experiencing such high unemployment.

Wood Exports is the second subject for today, and is based on an article in The Oregonian last week. The introductory paragraph states, "In 2009, softwood lumber exports from Oregon and Washington jumped by 17.5 percent from 2008, totaling 344.2 million board feet." The data source is the U.S. Forest Service. The article also points out that, "Analysts predict continuing improvement in the wood products market in 2010." Sounds promising. For more information, please see the full article.