Research
PNW
Funded Projects
2001
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PNW Project Overview 1999
A Report on Trends in Social and Economic Indicators for Local Areas of Clallam and Jefferson Counties
Principal
Investigators:
Dr.
Robert
Lee,
University of Washington, College of Forest Resources
Awarded: $2,200
Project
Description:
This project
builds on research initiated in 1998 and summarized in the report
entitled, “Big changes in Small Places: A Report on Trends in Social and
Economic Indicators for Local Areas of Clallam and Jefferson Counties.” The first year’s research revealed several important
indicators of changes taking place at the sub-county level that had been
clouded by aggregation of data at the county or state level. The most pertinent indicators were Department of Social and
Health Services records of program usage, average test scores by several
grade levels for school districts, and changes in business activity
recorded by periodic economic censuses.
Trends
revealed by these preliminary results justify an extension of this study,
especially because changes in communities are not accounted for in data
aggregated at county and state levels.
Additional research will select the time series variables most
relevant for tracking social and economic change at the sub-county level,
update the times series, involve communities of interest in reviewing and
validating the indicators, display results for local review by communities
on the Peninsula, prepare a report and referred publication and recommend
procedures for maintaining better records at the sub-county level, and
recommend how sub-county data could be used in monitoring the Northwest
Forest Plan.
Project Status:
Final report is in progress.
Abstracted
summary from report conclusion:
This report provides clear evidence of economic and social decline in the
western half of the two-county region of the Olympic peninsula within the
last 20 to 25 years, and especially since broad federal restrictions on
logging were instituted in the early 1990s. The West End's inhabitants
have been more negatively impacted by the deteriorating forest products
industry than have been those living in the eastern half of the region,
and they do not occupy a generally advantageous position for recovery.
West End inhabitants fall behind in educational attainment and students
perform less well on standardized tests as they grow older. They tend to
be more dependent on income assistance, and this dependence has grown with
time. Employment opportunities are fewer and less remunerative, and
industries are less developed on the west side. Mobility is high, which
destabilizes the community and may contribute to higher crime rates.
Native Americans, an historically disadvantaged group, make up a large
proportion of the West End's population, and Latinos are a rapidly growing
ethnic group in this area. Per capita and household incomes tend to be
lower in the west as does payroll per employee in certain industry groups.
Not only is the area falling behind, but the West End's next generation is
not being adequately prepared to compete for higher education, better
jobs, or to actively participate in the improvement of the region.
Sub-county level data is critical to an analysis of this nature; county-level statistics would not have shown the marked disparities
between east and west in Clallam and Jefferson Counties since these
disparities do not follow county boundaries.