Job Outlook In Spokane Remains Sluggish For First Quarter Of Next Year

What analysts call “limited staffing gains” are projected by Spokane area employers for the first quarter of next year in a new survey of hiring expectations.

The sluggish outlook locally is sharply at odds with expectations of continuing robust job growth in most of the state and nation entering 1998.

The survey is conducted quarterly by Manpower Inc., the world’s largest temporary help firm. “In our survey of hiring projections among local companies,” said Manpower spokesman Tom Droz in Spokane, “16 percent of respondents plan to increase their staffs, while 13 percent anticipate demand for workers will be less.

The other 71 percent indicate no changes are foreseen.”

In other words, hiring and firing will be nearly a wash.

Prospects were considerably more promising a year ago, when 23 percent of local employers planned to beef up payrolls in the first quarter, and only 6 percent anticipated cutting work force.

Nationally, one-quarter of all employers plan to add jobs. In Seattle, half of employers are preparing to hire more workers.

Budke launches new career as own boss

His may not be a household name.

But the words Gordon Budke are recognized by the inner circle of Spokane business leadership as virtually synonymous with civic duty.

The newly retired, formerly long-time managing partner in Spokane for the worldwide accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand has been a true workhorse for the private sector in the public arena. Indeed, he remains a sparkplug, one not easily replaced.

Ten years ago, Budke helped found Momentum, later serving two years as president of the economic acceleration organization.

During the past couple of years, he helped found Focus 21, and meld Momentum into this new economic development movement, of which he is still a board member.

He was a founder of the New Century Plan for Spokane and still serves on the steering committee.

He is a board member of the Downtown Spokane Partnership.

He is heavily involved with the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce, Junior League of Spokane, Wampum, the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute (SIRTI), the Spokane Regional Trade Alliance, Sacred Heart Medical Center, Eastern Washington University, Junior Achievement of Spokane. And he is Spokane Club president.

The list goes on and on.

As noted above, Budke is not easy to replace. For more than a decade he wrote a small business column for the Spokane Journal of Business. Succeeding him will be no fewer than six business writers on a rotating basis.

Meantime, Budke, 56, acknowledges he’s way too young to quit work. “I’m just a kid,” says the new grandfather.

So he is opening his own business at home. Budke Consulting will help other Spokane small businesses grow. “In addition, I’ll do a little work as an expert witness in trials, and perform some business valuations,” he says. “I’m looking forward to being my own boss.”

Convenience stores breathing easier

Washington’s 3,000 convenience store owners are breathing easier in the wake of last week’s narrow defeat of a proposal to ban tobacco outdoor advertising in Snohomish County.

Coupled with a previously enacted ban in Pierce County, similar action by neighboring Snohomish might have produced a “bandwagon” effect, says Amy Brackenbury, executive director of the Washington Association of Neighborhood Stores.

“When you stop to consider that half of the typical convenience store’s trade is in cigarettes,” the retail spokeswoman told me, “such actions are a huge threat to our store owners’ ability to survive.”

She said convenience stores are working diligently to keep tobacco out of the hands of minors. “The Washington State Liquor Control Board,” she said, “reports that we have a 96 percent compliance record.”

Rejection of a ban in Snohomish, says Brankenbury, is “a ray of hope that people will stop and think about the consequences,” which are nothing less than censorship.

Such actions, she argues, set a dangerous precedent which can lead to censoring other controversial or “politically incorrect” products. “Tobacco today,” says Brackenbury. “Alcoholic beverages tomorrow. Next will be furs. Then fast food. Meat. Cellular Phones. Big cars.

“You name it - there are activists who have strong feelings about such products and would like to see their promotion banned in the name of public health, or for the sake of the planet!”

A movement is afoot in Spokane to ban tobacco ads, and many if not most other local jurisdictions across the state are considering some action.

“We are beginning a process which will lead to hearings on a proposed ban,” reports Dr. Kim Thorburn, Spokane regional health officer. “There is some necessary groundwork which we have to do, in preparation for hearings after the first of the year,” said Thorburn. “We anticipate a lawsuit from the tobacco industry, so we want to make sure we have properly researched the legal implications.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes a notes column each Wednesday. If you have business items of regional interest for future columns, call 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review