Oregon's Firms: Large, Small, and In Between

The Employment Department's Research Division prepares several analyses of Oregon's firms broken out by size class. We usually follow a standard set of size class categorizations -- as shown in one recent post -- but we also provide custom size class analysis by customer request!

We've recently received several requests for the number of firms and employment in custom size class categories. So, why not share?

The graph below shows that by far, the largest number of Oregon's firms (58,000) fall into the smallest size class. These firms employ between one and five workers. While they constitute a large share of the business establishments, these smallest firms make up a relatively small share of the state's total employment. Oregon's firms with between one and five employees had 128,000 workers in the first quarter of 2012. At the other end of the spectrum, Oregon's largest firms -- those with 50+ employees -- were small in number (4,000), but with much higher employment (796,000).

For an even more detailed view of employment by class size, along with wages, take a look at the table below. Here we can see that Oregon firms with one to five employees make up nearly two-thirds of all business establishments. At the same time, these employers account for 7.6 percent of total wages in the state. Meanwhile, firms with 500 employees or more make up less than 1 percent of all business establishments, but pay more than one-third of the total wages.

You can find more information about Oregon's employers at QualityInfo.org. If you have questions related to this set of data tables, contact our size of firm guru, Research Analyst Phoebe Colman!