When the Jobs Get Weird, Oregonians Get the Jobs

The Oregon Employment Department categorizes over 800 specific occupations. However, for really unusual jobs there is no defined category or available statistics. It's worthwhile to study the jobs that fall outside of what we consider normal. After all, everyone is different and for some folks that perfect job may mean looking outside the jobs that exist today – and creating something truly original.

At the No Regrets Farm in Corvallis, Lainey Morse organizes yoga classes with her friend and yoga instructor, Heather Davis. Yoga is well known for helping people feel better both physically and mentally. Less well known, studies show that owning a pet lowers blood pressure and improves the mood of their owners. Combining the therapeutic value of yoga with the medical benefits of petting goats has been a big success. The goat yoga class at No Regrets Farm has thousands of people on the waiting list.

The sloth is a small, slow moving, tree dwelling mammal native to the rainforests of Central and South America. These adorable creatures are well known for their calm demeanor and soft fur. In the Oregon town of Rainier, the Sloth Center sustains the largest population of long-term, actively reproducing captive adult sloths in North America. The center is dedicated to providing a safe habitat for sloths.

The staff at the Sloth Center don’t just care for these rare and unusual creatures. They also provide opportunities for people to interact with the sloths. At the Sloth Center, the staff will teach you about sloths while letting you pet and feed the animals. Sloths sleep during the day. If you want to really spend some quality time with the sloths, the staff at the center will let you sleep in the sanctuary with the sloths. While it’s not a hotel, you’ll certainly never find another place to sleep where the employees instruct you about how to properly behave as sloths hang from artificial branches over your head.

Read the full article "When the Jobs Get Weird, Oregonians Get the Jobs" written by Workforce Analyst Christian Kaylor. 

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