Governor Brown urges people to return to work or find work soon

LANE COUNTY, Ore. — In a press conference on Friday morning, Governor Kate Brown addressed workforce shortages going on right now. It's a problem seen in Oregon and across the country.

There are many reasons why people are not returning to work.That includes childcare hardship and the lack of childcare providers during the pandemic.

The governor says she is encouraging people to go back to work or to find work if they've been laid off.

Oregon is closing in on a 70 percent vaccination rate and a relief from economic restriction.But as that approaches, there's a statewide shortage of workers

"The employment department has made it very clear that folks who are collecting unemployment, must begin to report their employment application efforts," Brown said. "And we expect folks receiving unemployment to do that."

Oregon's unemployment has gone down since the pandemic began, but hiring isn't meeting the demand for business.

Governor Brown says there are several reasons for that including fear of the coronavirus itself.

That's despite good news from the state epidemiologist.

"Daily cases, covid-19 related hospitalizations, and the percent of people testing positive continue to decline," said Dr. Dean Sidelinger. "The spread of the virus is receding across the state. Over the past week, we recorded 1,725 new daily cases of covid-19. A 26 percent drop from the week prior."

The governor encourages those who are unemployed to return to work or find work soon.

"There are a number of reasons why people are choosing not to return to work," she said. "But I do not believe by punishing them by taking away or reducing their unemployment, we encourage them to go back to work. I think what encourages people to go to work is, making sure they're paid well, treated with dignity and respect on the job. And that they have met their family's child care and educational needs."

Some businesses we spoke to Friday say they didn't have time to chat on camera, but some employers say they're hoping for positions to be filled so that they can fully function as a business.