E-Malt.com News article: USA, OR: Brewing industry’s payrolls increase in 2014

The brewing industry in Central Oregon added one new brewery in 2014, a period in which Oregon overall added 29 for a total of 225 brewing establishments, according to the Oregon Employment Department, The Bulletin reported on April 8th.

However, existing breweries in Central Oregon expanded during the year, adding another 20 percent to their payrolls for a total of $27.1 million, wrote Regional Economist Damon Runberg. Only Portland-area breweries accounted for more in wages last year: $76.5 million.

Taking all Central Oregon brewers into account, they employed 1,011 people, on average, in breweries and brewpubs last year. In Deschutes County, home to all but one of 29 brewing establishments in Central Oregon, breweries accounted for 1.5 percent of total private employment last year. Brewers added 124 jobs in 2014, a 14 percent growth rate, Runberg wrote.

Brewery workers earn a median hourly wage of $15.50 and pub workers $14.70, according to the report.

Neither Deschutes County nor Bend can claim the most breweries or the most breweries per capita, even in Oregon.

“There is one brewing establishment for every 5,738 residents in Deschutes County,” Runberg wrote.

The concentration is higher in Hood River County, at one for every 3,390 residents, and in Clatsop County, with one for every 4,687 residents.

At the city level, Bend, with 22 brewing establishments, has one for every 3,635 residents. Astoria has one for every 1,600 residents, and Hood River has one for every 1,509.


10 April, 2015