Data nonprofit corporation Economic Development of Central Oregon released its latest employment report this week.
It showed that the 50 largest companies in Central Oregon employ about 19 percent of the regional workforce.
St. Charles Health System is the area’s largest employer despite cutting more than 250 jobs since last year. Sunriver Resort ranks second and Bright Wood Corporation third.
The majority of Central Oregon's workforce, about 78 percent, work for small businesses with nine or fewer employees.
Elise Rossman, EDCO's director of marketing and communications, says that while the larger employers are important, small businesses are the "bread and butter" of Central Oregon employment.
"I feel like Central Oregon is a place of doers," she said, "It's a place of people that really want to live here and they do what they need to do to live here."
In 2016, Bend topped Forbes' 2016 list of Best Small Places for Business and Careers. This year, it ranks seventh overall, but holds second place for job growth.
Damon Runberg, a regional economist with the Oregon Employment Department, attributes the success of small business employment to the quality of life that areas like Bend and Sunriver offer.
"We're seeing a lot of businesses who sort of have flexibility in where they can be located. They're not necessarily serving a clientele or a customer locally," said Runberg.
"So they can kind of be located wherever they want, and so they're choosing places with higher quality of life, and Central Oregon is really attractive to some of those people right now."
Both Runberg and Rossman also credit the diversification of the regional economy across firms, saying it helps create a stable market environment that will be less susceptible to economic shocks and more inviting to new business ventures.
