Job Vacancies in the Portland Area

Each quarter, the Employment Department releases a snapshot of job vacancies for Oregon and five, broad sub-state areas. Once per year, we pull together more in-depth annual data on job vacancies for the state and the various regions. We were recently asked for some more detailed information about job vacancies in the Portland tri-county area (Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties).

Here are a few key points:

• In 2013, Portland tri-county vacancies paid an average of $17.11 per hour.
• Most vacancies were for permanent positions (83%), full-time positions (69%), and required prior experience (80%).
• Businesses reported that 40 percent of job vacancies were difficult to fill. Primary reasons for difficulty filling positions included a lack of applicants or a lack of qualified candidates.
• Industries with the largest shares of vacancies that were difficult to fill included natural resources and mining, other services, construction, and administrative and waste services.

 For more information about job vacancies in Oregon, take a look at our quarterly job vacancy snapshots or annual survey news release. Both can be found on the publications page of the new QualityInfo website!