Oregon's Current Workforce Gaps

Oregon's private employers had 58,000 job vacancies at any given time in 2018. They reported a majority of them (33,000 or 57%) as difficult to fill. In a mature economic expansion with unemployment rates at or near historic lows for two years, a lack of applicants posed the greatest challenge to businesses filling job vacancies.

Nine out of 10 difficult-to-fill job vacancies could be attributed to six hiring challenges. In addition to a lack of applicants, which accounted for 29 percent of all hard-to-fill vacancies, businesses also identified unfavorable working conditions (23%), a lack of qualified candidates (16%), a lack of soft skills (8%), a lack of work experience (7%), and low wages (7%) as hiring issues. Unfavorable working conditions included part-time, on-call, or inconsistent work shifts, or difficult physical or work environment conditions. A lack of soft skills included issues related to work ethic, reliability, or the ability to pass a drug screen.

Health care and social assistance reported the largest number of difficult-to-fill vacancies (5,500) by sector. Construction employers had the second-largest number of challenging vacancies (4,800), which also represented the largest share (85%) of difficult-to-fill vacancies by sector. Construction grew the fastest of any sector in Oregon between early 2016 and early 2018, at times topping 10 percent employment gains over the year. With that outsized pace of growth came a relatively large share (41%) of diffcult-to-fill vacancies in the sector with a lack of applicants.

Employers faced challenges filling job vacancies for a variety of jobs all across the economy in 2018. They reported difficult-to-fill vacancies in 320 different occupations. Those with the largest number of difficult-to-fill vacancies included personal care aides (2,000), truck drivers (1,700), food preparation workers (800), roofers (700), and landscaping and groundskeeping workers (700).

Employers in all areas of the state shared in the challenge of meeting their current workforce needs. Businesses reported difficulty filling the majority of vacancies in every region of Oregon. The Portland Metro area (Multnomah and Washington counties) had the largest number of difficult-to-fill vacancies (12,700) in 2018. The largely rural East Cascades and Southwestern Oregon regions reported the largest shares of difficult-to-fill vacancies (73% and 68%, respectively).

More information about hiring challenges for job vacancies in Oregon can be found in the full "Oregon's Current Workforce Gaps" report, or by contacting Senior Economic Analyst Gail Krumenauer.