Monthly Archives: January 2015

Boise Engineer Chooses Idaho for Work, Family, Quality of Life

Ryan Rehder addresses attendees at the Choose Idaho press conference in September 2014.

During his time in the U.S. Navy, Ryan Rehder experienced living and working in many areas of the country including Chicago, Charleston, S.C., upstate New York and Connecticut. Following his college graduation, Rehder had job prospects in Honolulu, Portland, OR, and Walnut Creek, CA. When it came time for Rehder to decide where he would continue his career and raise his family, he chose Idaho.

Rehder, a project engineer with Mountain Water Works in Boise, was drawn to a career in Idaho primarily because of the small company atmosphere available here.

“I understood the risk associated with a small company, but I also understood the potential rewards,” Rehder said. “There is excellent opportunity for motivated individuals.”

In the workplace, Rehder said he appreciates his colleagues because of their shared values and rural roots. However, it wasn’t just the company culture that brought Rehder to Idaho.

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Department of Labor Staff Helps Veteran Find Employment Through Networking

“I got the job!”

What a wonderful email to receive from one of our local veterans.

Navy Gulf War veteran Sherri Henry was seeking a professional position with better benefits for herself and her family. Henry approached AmeriCorps veterans representative, Sheila Kopczynski, for assistance with her job search.

Meanwhile, Mike Greco, an administrative officer with the Army Corps of Engineers Lower Granite Dam, contacted Kopczynski about filling an office automation position, a position similar to an office manager.

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December Economic Activity Around Idaho

Information provided in this article has been gathered from various sources throughout the state, including weekly and daily newspapers, television and other media.

Statewide
Northern Idaho
North Central Idaho
Southwestern Idaho
South Central Idaho
Southeastern Idaho
Eastern Idaho

STATEWIDE DEVELOPMENTS

Idaho compensates for its low ratio of physicians to population by providing opportunities for Idahoans to attend medical school at the University of Washington or the University of Utah. Idaho is 49th in the nation for both the number of physicians overall and for the number of physicians working in primary care. Taking steps to increase the number of physicians is a major legislative priority of the Idaho Medical Association for 2015. The association has made establishing residency opportunities its top priority, Executive Director Susie Pouliot told the Idaho Business Review. The Idaho State Board of Education has included funding for more residency program spots in its budget request to Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter for next year, Pouliot said.
By 2016, Idaho Power could add 461 megawatts of solar-generating capacity to its system. Developers have signed contracts to sell electricity to Idaho Power from the 16 projects in Idaho and Oregon under a federal law that requires the utility to buy power to encourage small and alternative energy producers. If all plants are built, Idaho Power would have a total of 1,253 megawatts of new green power on its grid, utility spokesman Brad Bowlin said, according to the Idaho Statesman. Last year, Idaho’s peak load was 3,407 megawatts in July, which would make green power 37 percent of its system. The share of alternative energy in Idaho Power’s portfolio tripled from 2010 to 2013, rising from 7 percent to 23 percent excluding hydroelectric power. Intermountain Energy Partners, the Idaho developer behind most of that solar projects, said its facilities will create 1,000 construction jobs and 50 permanent jobs. Based in Ketchum with offices in Boise, the company is set to build solar plants with a combined $800 million in construction costs, according to Leif Elgethun, a partner with the company.

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Half of Rural Idaho Students Exceed National Poverty Rates

Half of Idaho school districts have poverty rates among their students above the national poverty rate for children ages 5 to 17 and nearly all of them are in rural parts of the state.

Official poverty estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau are augmented by estimates from government agencies such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development and private organizations like the nonprofit Alliance for a Just Society in Seattle, which publishes an annual living wage report.

Government poverty estimates are important because they determine eligibility for housing rental and heating assistance, subsidies for home maintenance and repair, and low-interest, first-time home mortgages. The living wage is the amount a household must earn to meet basic expenses. The Alliance for a Just Society adjusts its calculations to reflect the different cost-of-living levels in cities and states.

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Investing in Idaho’s High-Tech Industry

Until recently, the high-tech industry cluster was relatively amorphous. Analysts chose industries that best suited the immediate objective – a “know it when you see it” approach, but that made it difficult to compare one analysis to any other. So in 2013 the Workforce Information Council, a federal-state organization set up under federal law, created a new, statistically robust high-tech taxonomy or classification procedure.

The taxonomy is based on the concentration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics occupations within an industry. To qualify as high-tech, an industry must have 2.5 times the national average of so-called STEM occupations. The current national average is roughly 5 percent, meaning to qualify as high-tech, an industry must have at least 15 percent of all employment classified as STEM occupations.

The most recent industry assessment under the taxonomy, released in 2014, includes 31 industries ranging from computer systems design and related services, where STEM concentration was about 67 percent nationally, to resin, synthetic rubber and artificial synthetic fibers and filaments manufacturing, where the STEM concentration was roughly 16 percent nationwide.