Employment Opportunities in Oregon.
The Time is Now.
Oregon Supported Employment Center for Excellence
September 16, 2015
1
Unemployment Down.
Employment Up.
A Good Time for Job Seekers
2
Unemployment rates are at or near pre-recession, historically low
levels.
Oregon Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rates
14.0
12.0
Percent of Labor Force
10.0
8.0
6.0
Non-metro
All Other Metro Areas Combined
4.0
Oregon
Portland Area
2.0
0.0
Jan-05
Jan-07
Jan-09
Jan-11
Source: Oregon Employment Department, Local Area Unemployment Statistics
Jan-13
Jan-15
The number of unemployed in Oregon is near where it was during
the previous economic expansion.
Unemployed Persons, Oregon Statewide
Seasonally Adjusted
Unemployment:
Seasonally Adjusted, 2005 to Present
250,000
Lowest
April 2007: 95,000
200,000
Highest
May 2009: 237,000
150,000
Current
July 2015: 114,000
100,000
50,000
Jan-05
Jan-07
Jan-09
Jan-11
Jan-13
4
Jan-15
Participation in Oregon’s labor force is declining … even
as jobs are being added.
70.0
Percent of Population, Ages 16 years and older
Oregon Labor Force Participation Rate
68.0
66.0
Jan. 2011
January 2005
64.0
62.0
60.0
5
Job growth is running at a strong 3.2 percent over the year.
Seasonally Adjusted Employment in Oregon
Total Nonfarm Payroll: 1990 - 2015
1,800,000
1,700,000
Employment
1,600,000
1,500,000
1,400,000
1,300,000
Employment has finally surpassed pre-recession
peak and is up 187,200 jobs since the low point in
January 2010.
1,200,000
1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015
All parts of Oregon are showing growth, but not all at the
same pace.
Employment Levels Relative to 2001
Portland Area, Other Metro Areas, and Combined Non-Metro Counties
Nonfarm Payroll Employment Index (2001=100)
120
Albany, Bend, Corvallis,
Grants Pass, Eugene,
Medford, and Salem
PortlandVancouverHillsboro
110
Oregon
100
Non-metro
Oregon
90
80
2001
2003
2005
2007
Source: Oregon Employment Department, Current Employment Statistics
2009
2011
2013
As usual, Bend and Portland lead the growth.
Over-the-Year Nonfarm Payroll Employment Change by Region
July 2014 to July 2015, Not Seasonally Adjusted
4.5%
4.0%
3.5%
3.0%
2.5%
2.0%
1.5%
1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
Central
Portland 5
Willamette
Valley
Coast
Southern
Eastern
You may have heard that all the new jobs are low-wage jobs. Not true.
Oregon Job Growth and Average Pay by Industry
July 2014 - July 2015 Job Growth, 2014 Average Pay
Professional and business services
$60,590
Retail trade
$28,000
Leisure and hospitality
$18,660
Health care and social assistance
$47,729
Manufacturing
$64,000
State government
$47,469
Construction
$53,322
Other services
$29,125
$47,519
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities
Wholesale trade
$63,468
Information
$70,640
Federal government
$69,777
Financial activities
$59,582
Private Educational services
$34,078
Mining and logging
$49,170
Local government
$47,651
-2,500
Source: Oregon Employment Department
0
2,500
5,000
7,500
Over-the-Year Job Change
10,000
12,500
15,000
You may have heard that Oregon always grows more slowly than the
nation. Not true.
Oregon and US Employment Trends*
January 2009 to Current: US Trend Indexed to June 2009
1,800,000
Oregon
1,750,000
1,700,000
U.S. Trend
1,650,000
1,600,000
1,550,000
1,500,000
2009
* Seasonally Adjusted
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
More Vacancies.
More Difficult-to-Fill Vacancies.
A Good Time for Job Seekers
11
Oregon businesses reported 53,300 vacancies this spring.
Snapshot of Oregon Job Vacancies
Spring 2015
Vacancies
53,308
Average Hourly Wage
$15.78
Full-time Positions
76%
Permanent Positions
89%
Requiring Education Beyond High School
25%
Requiring Previous Experience
60%
Difficult to Fill
61%
• Surveyed 2,900 private
employers with two or
more employees
• Largest number of
vacancies in the
history of the Job
Vacancy Survey.
Health care and social assistance accounted for
about one-fifth of job vacancies.
Oregon Job Vacancies by Industry, Spring 2015
Industry
All Industries
Health care and social assistance
Leisure and hospitality
Manufacturing
Retail trade
Financial activities
Wholesale trade
Construction
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities
Administrative and waste services
Information
Other services
Natural resources and mining
Professional and technical services
Private educational services
Vacancies
53,308
11,151
7,656
6,213
4,073
3,490
3,433
3,406
3,285
2,509
2,269
2,243
1,720
1,372
488
• Health care and social
assistance regularly tops
the list of industries with
vacancies.
• Leisure and hospitality
and manufacturing also
had many job openings in
spring.
Many occupation groups had large numbers of
vacancies – employers are hiring for many different jobs.
Oregon Job Vacancies by Occupation Group, Spring 2015
Occupation Group
All Occupations
Food Preparation and Serving Related
Sales and Related
Production
Office and Administrative Support
Transportation and Material Moving
Community and Social Service
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance
Management
Personal Care and Service
Construction and Extraction
Computer and Mathematical
Health Care Practitioners and Technical
Health Care Support
Architecture and Engineering
Protective Service
Business and Financial Operations
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry
Education, Training, and Library
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media
Legal
Life, Physical, and Social Science
Vacancies
53,308
6,567
5,196
4,717
4,255
4,185
3,110
3,008
2,997
2,939
2,813
2,584
2,171
2,163
1,650
1,241
997
914
788
512
283
171
47
• Personal care aides,
medical and nursing
assistants, cooks, waiters
and waitresses, maids,
were some of the most
frequent vacancies in the
top occupational groups.
Employers responding to the Oregon Job
Vacancy Survey are asked:
 “Is this position difficult to fill? If so, please briefly tell us the
most important reason why.”
 Employers had A LOT to say on the topic.
 Half (51%) of Oregon’s job vacancies in 2014 were reported as
“difficult to fill” – totaling 23,247 positions.
15
The profile of difficult-to-fill vacancies
differs by primary reason.
Characteristics of Difficult-to-Fill Vacancies by Primary Reason
Primary Reason
All Reasons
Lack of applicants
Lack of qualified candidates
Unfavorable working conditions
Lack of work experience
Other
Lack of soft skills
unknown excluded
Vacancies
23,247
6,668
4,330
3,393
1,820
1,389
1,269
Average
Require Ed
Wage Full-time Permanent Beyond HS
$16.37
74%
80%
24%
$14.61
75%
77%
15%
$21.11
85%
91%
42%
$12.07
44%
67%
11%
$16.52
84%
95%
22%
$17.21
70%
66%
13%
$12.26
73%
84%
15%
 Lack of qualified candidates has highest average
wage
 Unfavorable working conditions has lowest
16
average wage and less full-time openings
Require
Previous
Experience
70%
60%
87%
59%
83%
66%
73%
Top 25 Occupations in Oregon
With the Highest Number of Vacancies Reported as Difficult to Fill, 2014
These 25
occupations
accounted
for almost
half (47%) of
the total
difficult-tofill
vacancies.
Occupation
All Occupations
Farmworkers and Laborers for Crops, Nurseries, and Greenhouses
Personal Care Aides
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
Retail Salespersons
Nursing Assistants
Registered Nurses
Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
Construction Laborers
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers
Social and Community Service Managers
Cooks, Restaurant
Bus Drivers, School or Special Client
Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
Cooks, Fast Food
Customer Service Representatives
Waiters and Waitresses
Light Truck or Delivery Services Drivers
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
Cashiers
Medical Assistants
Supervisors and Managers of Production and Operating Workers
Production Worker's Helpers
Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast
Food
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
17
Difficult to Share of
Vacancies
Fill
Total
45,402
23,247
51%
1,087
1,084
100%
1,483
957
65%
1,176
952
81%
1,807
754
42%
1,221
704
58%
1,339
666
50%
1,038
574
55%
891
473
53%
610
471
77%
570
366
64%
364
321
88%
504
319
63%
319
312
98%
362
299
83%
379
276
73%
1,147
267
23%
457
250
55%
608
245
40%
243
243
100%
1,194
242
20%
367
231
63%
246
222
90%
300
220
73%
1,222
815
217
214
18%
26%
Businesses east of the Cascades reported greater
difficulty filling vacancies.
Greater Difficulty Filling Vacancies East of the Cascades
Difficult-to-Fill Share of Total Vacancies in 2014
Portland
49%
Northwest/
Willamette Valley
55%
Southwest
56%
18
Central
63%
Eastern
70%
Why are some vacancies difficult to fill?
Reasons Provided for Difficult-to-Fill Vacancies
Lack of certification
4%
Lack of technical Lack of training
skills
1%
2%
Lack of soft skills
6%
Lack of applicants
30%
Lack of work
experience
8%
Lack of qualified
candidates
20%
Location
4%
Low wages
4%
Other
6%
Unfavorable working
conditions
15%
19
Looking Out Ten Years: Job
Growth and Many Retirements.
A Good Time for Job Seekers
20
The number of jobs in Oregon is expected to grow by
15 percent from 2012 to 2022.
Oregon to Add 258,000 Jobs by 2022
 258,000 jobs due
to economic
growth
 Additional 392,000
job openings due
to replacement
Historical and Projected Employment
2,000,000
1,500,000
 Private-sector
growing faster
(17%)
 Government
growing slower
(9%)
1,000,000
Source: Oregon Employment Department
500,000
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
2022
Construction will grow the fastest, at 29 percent.
All Oregon Private Industry Sectors Expected to Add Jobs, 2012-2022
 Fast construction
growth due in
part to a late
rebound from
deep recessionary
job losses
Construction
Professional and business services
Health care and social assistance
Private educational services
Natural resources and mining
Leisure and hospitality
Financial activities
 Slowest-growing
industries include
information (7%)
and state
government (9%)
Other services
Local government
Manufacturing
Trade, transportation, and utilities
State government
Information
Federal government
-10%
Source: Oregon Employment Department
0%
10%
20%
30%
But job seekers don’t just apply for the new, economic
growth jobs. They apply for any jobs that are vacant …
Growth and Replacement Openings by Industry, 2012-2022
Leisure and Hospitality
Professional and Business Services
Government
Health Care and Social Assistance
 Three out of
five industry
openings are
expected to
come from
replacement.
Retail Trade
Manufacturing
Construction
Financial Activities
Wholesale Trade
Growth Openings
Natural Resources and Mining
Replacement Openings
Other Services
Transportation and Utilities
Private Educational Services
Information
0
20,000
23
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
And that means lots of potential in a wide variety of
occupations.
Growth Openings vs. Replacement Openings in Oregon, 2012-2022
 A total of
653,000
openings are
expected
 261,000 (40%)
are due to
growth
 392,000 (60%)
are due to
replacement
 The most
openings will be
in the service
group (136,000)
Service
Professional and Related
Office and Administrative Support
Sales and Related
Management, Business, and Financial
Health Care
Transportation and Material Moving
Growth Openings
Replacement Openings
Production
Construction and Extraction
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry
0
50,000
24
100,000
150,000
A Brief Mention of Green Jobs
Older Data: Circa 2009.
25
We defined “Green Job”…
 For our survey, a green job is one that provides a service or
produces a product in any of the following categories:
1. Increasing energy efficiency
2. Producing renewable energy
3. Preventing, reducing, or mitigating environmental
degradation
4. Cleaning up and restoring the natural environment
5. Providing education, consulting, policy promotion,
accreditation, trading and offsets, or similar services
supporting any of the other categories
Note: we wanted one or more of these things to be an “essential function” of the job.
We surveyed Oregon businesses …
 In early 2009, surveyed 10,500 employers in all industries
across the state
 We asked them the following:
 How many jobs in 2008 included green activities as an essential
part of the job
 The minimum education required for these jobs
 The types of special training, certification, or other
requirements that exist for these jobs
 The wages associated with these jobs
 How many of these jobs they expect to have in 2010
Key Finding: Oregon had roughly
51,000 green jobs.
 51,402 green jobs in 2008, spread across...
 5,025 employers
 all major industry groups
 226 different occupations
 Represents about 3 percent of the employment in the
private sector and state and local government
 To give perspective … this is roughly the same as the
number of employees working in Oregon’s private hospitals.
Eleven occupations had at least 1,000 green jobs.
Top 11 Occupations with More Than 1,000 Green Jobs
Examples of Green Work From the Oregon Green Jobs Survey
Occupation
Carpenters
(4,025 jobs)
Farmworkers and Laborers
(3,189 jobs)
Truck Drivers
(2,337 jobs)
Hazardous Materials Removal Workers
(2,123 jobs)
Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers
(2,044 jobs)
Civil Engineers
(1,889 jobs)
Production Workers
(1,728 jobs)
Freight, Stock, and Material Movers
(1,628 jobs)
Retail Salespersons
(1,149 jobs)
Biological Technicians
(1,115 jobs)
Fire Fighters
(1,021 jobs)
Selected Green Job Description and Employer
"home weatherization" - local community action center
"energy efficiency construction" - temp agency
"herbsman" - 100% organic dairy
"Assistant grower" - organic nursery
"compost truck driver" - waste management company
"truck drivers" - biomass company
"asbestos abatement worker" - remediation business
"special waste technician" - at county waste center
"riparian crew leader" - local watershed restoration
"restoration of native plants" - forestry consulting firm
"civil inspector" - wind energy firm
"LEED AP Project Engineer" - construction company
"paper machine tender" - mill making 100% recycled paper
"processing recycling" - oil recycler
"sorter" - recycling company
"auto parts dismantler" - auto salvage yard
"sells systems, customer care" - solar panel retailer
"retail manager" - organic nursery
"Coho life cycle monitoring" - local watershed
"fisheries technician" - tribal government
"rehab after fires, forest hazard fuel reduction" - environmental
consulting firm
Graham Slater, Research Administrator
Oregon Employment Department
Graham.J.Slater@oregon.gov
(503) 947-1212
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