New articles on QualityInfo.org

Once a month we get an email from one of our managers about the newest articles available on our main website, www.QualityInfo.org. Although we like to share these articles on the blog throughout the month, we don't always have time to cover everything, and some of the stories are old news by the end of the month! So to give you more timely information, we'd like to share a quick summary of the newest articles...

Our lead article is Pumping 2 Million Gallons With a Smile. This article about Oregon's nearly unique occupation (gas station attendant) is by the brilliant Dwayne Stevenson and funnyman Jason Payton.

We all know that restaurants, hotels, and the tourism industry play a major part in Oregon's economy, but do you know just how big a part it plays? Insights are available in Shawna Sykes' article, Destination Oregon - Leisure and Hospitality Trends.

State Employment Economist Nick Beleiciks brings us an article this month about older workers -- Back to Baby Boomers: They Can't Work Forever. It talks about boomer employment numbers, how they may change in the future, and what impact that will have on Oregon's economy.

How many year-round jobs are in Oregon's natural resources industries? How many seasonal jobs? How many of theses jobs are "green" jobs? What percent of natural resource employers report trouble finding qualified workers? Answers to these questions and more can be found in Gail Krumenauer's and Charlie Johnson's article, New Survey Counts Jobs in Natural Resources.

Longtime residents of the Portland metro area know from simple observation that the population there is always growing. The article Portland Population - Two Decades of Growth shows off just how much it has changed in the last 20+ years.

There is also a brief article this month about the relationship between the hours worked in manufacturing and the growth or decline in our economy: Average Manufacturing Workweek as an Economic Indicator.