Job market in Portland OR
April 3, 2008 12:31 PM Subscribe
How bad in general is the job market in Portland OR.? I've heard for a few years now that the economy is fairly depressed there and that jobs, white and blue collar, are hard to come by. Is this true or are the people I'm talking to in the wrong lines of work?
What I've found about Portland (I work as an IT contractor and have lived here since 2002) is that there are jobs available, you just have to be patient when you're trying to find them. The average job search here seems to be a fair amount longer than it is in other places I've lived (Seattle, Boston, Hartford), but there are definitely jobs to be had here.
posted by pdb at 12:45 PM on April 3, 2008
posted by pdb at 12:45 PM on April 3, 2008
Whenever we need to hire someone at my white collar work it seems like it takes forever to find qualified candidates. I think that in general Portland is the kind of place where knowing someone is more likely to get you an interview than looking in the paper or on CraigsList, but if you know something (and know it well) you won't have a tough time coming by work.
Anecdotally I've heard that there are a ton of blue collar jobs to be had in the industrial district, entry level even. There are still quite a few mills and factories along the river (despite the Pearl's best effort to eat up all that land), and the aging population of the workers is causing quite the labor crunch.
Knowing specifically what kind of work you're looking for might help answer the question in more detail.
posted by togdon at 12:53 PM on April 3, 2008
Anecdotally I've heard that there are a ton of blue collar jobs to be had in the industrial district, entry level even. There are still quite a few mills and factories along the river (despite the Pearl's best effort to eat up all that land), and the aging population of the workers is causing quite the labor crunch.
Knowing specifically what kind of work you're looking for might help answer the question in more detail.
posted by togdon at 12:53 PM on April 3, 2008
Since I don't know any of your specifics, I can only supply my personal anecdote. I live in Portland and am employed through a temp agency to do administrative work. It's less than glamorous, but it seems to be the best way (other than knowing the right people, which I don't). I've tried all of the job websites (monster, etc), but they're a big waste of time. I still use Craig's List, and occasionally I get called for an interview, but it's rare.
I don't know whether the purpose of your question was purely speculation or a practical, will I find a job in PDX, question. Speculation wise, I think that yea, it's pretty difficult, but I have nothing to compare it to. Practically speaking, if you're looking for a lower level white collar job, I think a temp agency is the best way to go.
posted by hopeless romantique at 1:20 PM on April 3, 2008
I don't know whether the purpose of your question was purely speculation or a practical, will I find a job in PDX, question. Speculation wise, I think that yea, it's pretty difficult, but I have nothing to compare it to. Practically speaking, if you're looking for a lower level white collar job, I think a temp agency is the best way to go.
posted by hopeless romantique at 1:20 PM on April 3, 2008
It's hit or miss. Take a look at craigslist and you might find some gems, but most of them are low-paying crap jobs. Basically, what everyone else said.
posted by hulahulagirl at 1:25 PM on April 3, 2008
posted by hulahulagirl at 1:25 PM on April 3, 2008
Also, for more speculation.... I once heard someone explain that the reason for the poor job market in Portland was because lots of people move out to Portland on account of it being a great city. They don't have any job plans, and when they get there, whoops, there's nothing available.
It's hard to find food service jobs because there's a culinary school here. The number of trained chefs/restaurateurs/etc who live in Portland outnumber the available food service jobs.
posted by hopeless romantique at 1:26 PM on April 3, 2008
It's hard to find food service jobs because there's a culinary school here. The number of trained chefs/restaurateurs/etc who live in Portland outnumber the available food service jobs.
posted by hopeless romantique at 1:26 PM on April 3, 2008
Response by poster: I was not asking for a specific line of work necessarily. I used to live in PDX (PSU Grad) and my friends who still live there bemoan the job situation. They are mostly coffeeshop/bike store type workers so I was looking for some people from other walks of life to comment.
posted by josher71 at 1:55 PM on April 3, 2008
posted by josher71 at 1:55 PM on April 3, 2008
Another anecdote to the pile: I moved to Portland in 2001, didn't have anything solid(technical field) lined up, got a temp administrative job that I ended up in until 2004.
But I have shifted technical jobs 3 times since 2004. Luck? Others in the same field have had similar results in the same time frame. Web / graphic design friends seem to have to look longer than pure tech. Should I need to look for another job right now I don' expect I would have to be looking for too long, but I wouldn't want to just up and quit without having something lined up.
posted by mnology at 2:42 PM on April 3, 2008
But I have shifted technical jobs 3 times since 2004. Luck? Others in the same field have had similar results in the same time frame. Web / graphic design friends seem to have to look longer than pure tech. Should I need to look for another job right now I don' expect I would have to be looking for too long, but I wouldn't want to just up and quit without having something lined up.
posted by mnology at 2:42 PM on April 3, 2008
If there's anything that this town has one too many of it's probably "coffeeshop/bike store type workers." So your friends have that going for/against them.
posted by togdon at 2:49 PM on April 3, 2008
posted by togdon at 2:49 PM on April 3, 2008
I've lived here since about 2000, and anecdotally I'd say that it's definitely better than it used to be. For the first few years I lived here, I always knew quite a few unemployed folks, and that's no longer as true. Of course, we might just be growing up and getting more responsible.
posted by dizziest at 3:05 PM on April 3, 2008
posted by dizziest at 3:05 PM on April 3, 2008
One more for the anecdote pile:
I moved to Portland last November and found a job at OHSU as a research assistant doing something super cool by the first week of December. On paper (and in practice, natch) I am qualified to work in a relatively small niche in biotech/research/etc.
The partner is still jobless and continues to search. He is a jack-of-all-trades (IT, shipping, construction, manufacturing, administration, management) looking to settle into a regularly paying job that has something to do with any of his past jobs. On paper, he has a great deal of experience doing a lot of different things and he been living the saying that looking for work is a full-time job.
We had both been searching since before October when we decided that we'd be moving out here.
The longer I live here, the more I think that there are very specific slots that need filling in Portland (my little cubbyhole less so as a result of the Great Tort Reform Ruling) and that if you're not in one of these, you're in a bit of a pickle.
posted by oreonax at 3:15 PM on April 3, 2008
I moved to Portland last November and found a job at OHSU as a research assistant doing something super cool by the first week of December. On paper (and in practice, natch) I am qualified to work in a relatively small niche in biotech/research/etc.
The partner is still jobless and continues to search. He is a jack-of-all-trades (IT, shipping, construction, manufacturing, administration, management) looking to settle into a regularly paying job that has something to do with any of his past jobs. On paper, he has a great deal of experience doing a lot of different things and he been living the saying that looking for work is a full-time job.
We had both been searching since before October when we decided that we'd be moving out here.
The longer I live here, the more I think that there are very specific slots that need filling in Portland (my little cubbyhole less so as a result of the Great Tort Reform Ruling) and that if you're not in one of these, you're in a bit of a pickle.
posted by oreonax at 3:15 PM on April 3, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by space2k at 12:35 PM on April 3, 2008