Central Oregon employers must be doing something right, employment officials say, because even with dropping unemployment rates, High Desert payrolls are growing and employers aren’t struggling with an acute employment shortage like they did last year.

”I am hearing for this first quarter that many businesses that struggled last year at this time have had more qualified employees walking in and applying,” said Jan Swander, work force analyst for the Oregon Employment Department in Bend.

But that’s not to say the ramped-up summer hiring season will be easy for employers, Swander warned, as dropping unemployment rates signal an increasingly competitive job market for businesses trying to lure workers. Last summer, some companies desperate for workers were forced to reduce operations.

Deschutes County had the lowest unemployment rate in Oregon much of the year.

In March, all three counties in Central Oregon saw their unemployment numbers drop from February, according to an Oregon Employment Department report released Thursday.

Deschutes County, as usual, had the lowest rate in the region of 5.3 percent – down from 5.8 percent in February – which is lower than the 5.5 percent recorded in March 2006.

The state unemployment rate in March was 5.2 percent.

Crook County’s unemployment rate last month was 7.4 percent – down from 8.2 percent in February – but higher than the 7.1 percent posted in March 2006.

Jefferson County continued to have the highest unemployment rate in the region, with 7.9 percent of the population, ages 16 and older, who were unemployed in March – down from 8.3 percent in February – but above the 7.1 percent rate a year ago.

Jefferson County continues to feel the pain of manufacturing layoffs, said Steve Williams, regional economist for the local Employment Department office and author of the report. Manufacturing shed 40 jobs in March, with wood products manufacturing losing 20 jobs. Almost all of Seaswirl’s 140 employees in Culver will lose their jobs by the end of April, as the company moves it production facilities to Little Falls, Minn.

Even with the first quarter’s manufacturing job losses – about 300 fewer jobs in Jefferson County alone – Central Oregon’s payroll grew 4.1 percent from the first quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2007, Williams said.

Regional employers still need more workers, Williams said. Unemployment rates are low by historical standards and even though this summer won’t be as tight as last summer, employers still will be struggling to find and keep workers, he said.

Swander said employers have learned from the tough labor markets of the past three years. They’ve developed better recruitment and retention strategies – something she and other employment consultants have been emphasizing for the past year.

”A lot of (employers) are working on being an employer of choice,” Swander said. ”They’ve looked at their management style, have looked at their wage ranges and determined where they needed to be to be competitive within the market.”

More employers are participating in job fairs, she added, and are keeping track of all potential employees, whether they are hiring or not.

”Truly, when I look at their recruitment process, it has really changed,” Swander said. ”It’s really another facet of their marketing the company, ‘We are a good place to work, we have a good product.’”