WORKERS FILL A VARIETY OF NEW JOBS IN PAST YEAR

Clark County's economy has created an estimated 2,500 new jobssince last April. So what are all of these new workers doing?

* 1,500 more are working in retail, mostly in general merchandiseand grocery stores. That sector seems likely to expand, with HomeDepot preparing for a July opening and supermarket constructioncontinuing.

* 600 more are working in the services industry. This numberwould be even higher, but fewer are working for temporary servicesagencies this year. That's primarily due to the end of high-volumemanufacturing at Hewlett-Packard, which often employed hundreds oftemps.* 500 more are working in communications and utilities as localtelecoms continued to build their businesses.* 500 more are in wholesale trade, 300 are in education, and 200are in construction.Wait ---- that adds up to more than 2,500. That's becausemanufacturing has lost 1,100 jobs since last year. HP made the mostcuts, but many local manufacturers have downsized in the last year.Our experience is symptomatic of a larger trend. Oregon, forexample, lost 5,700 manufacturing jobs between April 1999 and April1998. Washington lost 12,100 jobs over the same time period.Free computer stuffHere's a great offer for Clark County families with more than onecomputer at home. Diamond Multimedia, which has a division inVancouver, is looking for families to test some of its homenetworking gear as engineers fine-tune it for the marketplace.Families need to have a computer that's at least one year old, andanother one that's at least six months old. Families using bothMacintosh and Windows are especially preferred. You need to know howto surf the Internet and use at least two different softwareprograms.Families that are chosen for the test get to keep the networkingproducts. Of course, they'll be contacted several times byresearchers to get feedback on the product.To volunteer for the test, e-mail hometestdiamondmm.com or phone604-1587.No offers on HP buildingHewlett-Packard reports it has had a few lookers but no offers onits North Campus building.Now that the company has ended mass production of inkjet printershere, it's planning to consolidate all of its operations on itssouthcampus on Southeast 34th Street. That leaves the large building nearthe corner of Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard and Southeast 164thAvenue for sale.Beth Quartarolo, a company spokeswoman, said there have been a fewlookers, but no deals are in the works. The building has been usedas office space recently, but it easily could be used for lightmanufacturing, or a combination office-light industrial. Askingprice: $29 million.However, most companies looking here have considerably smallerneeds.For example, the Columbia River Economic Development Councilreports it is working a technical support call center with 300 jobs,a metal manufacturer needing 50,000 square feet, and twodistributioncompanies.Craig Brown is The Columbian's business editor. Reach him at699-6006.