Hows the job market in OR

[FoxyRoadster]

My partner is fixated on moving west, we finally came to an agreement on Oregon over all the other states in the area. (Cali's car laws scare me plus don't think my hillbilly ass would like the city life. :unsure: ) So I'm curious to how the job market is doing out there, I don't expect booming but hoping to hear better then a few months back.

[Skib]

[FoxyRoadster]

So like everywhere else lol

[Farmer]

I guess it depend on you field of expertise. Construction---Nothing (unless its Commercial). Manufacturing so-so. Health care via nurse,cna,etc.. good. Start looking around to see whats available. Have you decided which part of Oregon. And the weather is not the same in all of Oregon. Nortwest part of OR is mild compared to South west and eastern OR.

 

Larry

[sssr20det510]

Depends on what you do and what part of oregon, do you know what city you want to move to

[FoxyRoadster]

I think I'm pretty much boned on jobs out that way, not much someone going to school for farm economics and such can do I'm sure. Besides that I work currently for internet company doing tech support. I can do a bit of IT, but would rather not. My partner seems to think I'll be able to get a farming job for some reason.

 

 

I'm not sure what part he has decided on so.

[Figbuck]

Yeah, Skib has the picture worth a thousand words. You nailed it.

 

Job Market? You mean there is one?? It is more like a slave auction.

 

There are jobs but only for the skilled and experienced. Get ready to stand in line for them and sing and dance at the auditions too.

 

Look on craigslist. it is like a barometer of what is going on. I noticed many years ago that if you looked in the newspaper and saw ads for cabinet shop helpers, apprentice carpenters and helpers, the economy was cooking. Cabinet shops are high on the food chain. When construction tapers off you don't see ads for journey level cabinet makers or low skilled sanders/assemblers. Same with carpenters, the guys that install cabinets and millwork. No carpenter jobs and the economy is sagging.

 

There hasn't been a posting for carpenters for months or a year. Maybe one or two a month, but they are for crummy little gypo operations that are only fishing for people to work cheap. The jobs seem to be for welders, HVAC techs, low voltage electricians with the certificates, service plumbers, some heavy equipment operators, experienced certified auto techs, auto body techs and painters. Service techs mostly, not construction jobs. Construction is under water because the housing market is under water and it doesn't look like it will turn around any time soon. Also expect to take drug and background screens even for crappy little jobs because some company's insurers require it now.

 

The economy here is just destroyed. I look around where I have my shop and there are so many empty buildings and spaces for lease. In my building the space next to me is vacant and we haven't been able to find anybody even interested in it. It is so cheap that I can't believe somebody hasn't snapped it up, but nobody is doing anything. People are unsure of what is going on politically and it sort of looks like the bottom of the real estate market here hasn't really been found. Even if people had money to spend, I think they are too freaked to spend it and it would take a while for all the little businesses to get put back together and get the economic ball rolling here again.

 

Not that it couldn't happen but I ain't holding my breath. Almost everybody I know or talk too is having a hard time making it. I remember Oregon in the 80's when the lumber, wood products and paper industries and related transportation businesses were going away. Because the economy was centered on one thing pretty much, it didn't take that much or a recession to kill the local economy. People were leaving the area like rats from a sinking ship. There were nice houses in every block in every direction that had bank foreclosure signs on them. One could have grabbed nice homes for forty or fifty grand.

 

Then the powers that be tried to diversify the industries and have more clean manufacturing and high tech businesses, that worked until the dot com boom and bust. One of the problems with a better economy was that was it sent housing prices up and now that bubble has burst. Those same houses were selling for three hundred grand and are now selling, or not selling, for two hundred. Lots of people are loosing the same houses all over again or are under water on their loans. For sure if they bought the properties maybe two years ago at the peak of the prices. They are paying on a loan for a place that they can't even sell for a hundred grand less than they bought it for.

 

My two cents is that both Oregon and California will lag behind any economic recovery the rest of the country might see, each for different reasons. I wonder why people are still moving here, because I see that they are. Lots of people are looking at the hip cultural scene here and say, well If I'm going to be broke I might as well be broke in a place that is nice to live. Can't move to San Francisco because there are still people there that are making or have made money. Because they are not tied to a local economy it keeps the cost of living high. It is as a bigger, more diversified economy down there. Also more global. Not the case here so much. It is relatively inexpensive to live here but there are more baristas, bar tenders, food servers with PHDs working for minimum wage than anywhere else. I saw a thing on the news where a guy put a posting on craigslist for a part time short order line cook to make burgers and sandwiches for ten bucks an hour. He had to pull the posting because he got a hundred and fifty applications in twenty minutes. He got guys that were executive chefs in big hotels or had their own bistros or up scale restaurants that they had to close.

 

I have heard local economists say that the real unemployment is near twenty percent. Seriously, there was a article in the paper about how they needed to hire a bunch more people to deal with issuing food stamps. The rise in food stamps is alarming but more alarming is that there is no money in the state budget for new hiring.

 

I went out to empty my trash and talked to a guy diving the dumpsters behind my shop. He has three kids and is living in a van. Just lost his apartment because he has only been able to work hit and miss for two years. He ran out of unemployment and credit card. He is thinking about going someplace warm and dry in the south west.

 

Maybe think warm and dry...

[FoxyRoadster]

Ahh, well where I'm at now the job market isn't super bad.. Just nothing to do at all... Not even much of a local Datto scene.

 

 

And I'll be honest, I only make 10.50 an hour here so I'm not exactly high wage here either.

[Guest kamakazi620]

Ahh, well where I'm at now the job market isn't super bad.. Just nothing to do at all... Not even much of a local Datto scene.

 

 

And I'll be honest, I only make 10.50 an hour here so I'm not exactly high wage here either.

I''ll be honest You can find a farm hand job here but you ain't gonna make 10.50 my G/F was a farm hand and only got 20 bucks a day,on weekends when they did shows (petting zoo/exotic animals)she would get 50 a DAY she would work 10-12 hours in a DAy. Good Luck!!!

[thisismatt]

:lol:

[nukeday]

I've been out of work for 18 months. I'm a Satellite Communications AF vet, 10 years of automation controls and even sales/marketing experience. Alas, no Bachelor's and no skill certificates (electrician, etc.), so still no job. I'm 'overqualified' for a lot of work that does come available, and won't even get an interview based on the 'you'll find something better and be gone' mentality of employers.

 

That said, farm economics is not an entirely useless field here in OR. Lumber is a crop, grass seed is a crop, and so is wheat. Lumber is a very difficult industry to find work in anywhere in North America right now. The Willamette Valley (I-5 corridor) is the world's largest grass seed producer. Eastern Oregon is the 'wheat basket' of the state. Oregon State University is also known as 'Moo U', really strong AG presence here in the Valley. Oregon is also a hotbed of 'organic' farming. Everything from tea to dairy products to natural supplements.

 

If it's just the two of you, I recommend keeping funds in hand if you have to return to OK, but there might be work here for you. Eugene and Corvallis are over educated areas, a Bachelor's will get you a spot in line when Target is hiring. Maybe. Portland is a larger community, so there is more work there. There are jobs I could apply for in that area, but it's 2 hours north and I'm not moving until I have no choice.

 

Good luck, whatever you decide.

[Farmer]

Ahh, well where I'm at now the job market isn't super bad.. Just nothing to do at all... Not even much of a local Datto scene.

 

 

And I'll be honest, I only make 10.50 an hour here so I'm not exactly high wage here either.

The 10.50 your making now is about 6 bucks here in Oregon. Cost of living is crazy here. It use to not be that way, until rich Cali's started pulling in and staying. Just take your time and find a secured Job.

 

Larry

[ppeters914]

Nice, well written piece there Fig.

 

I think I'm pretty much boned on jobs out that way, not much someone going to school for farm economics and such can do I'm sure. Besides that I work currently for internet company doing tech support. I can do a bit of IT, but would rather not. My partner seems to think I'll be able to get a farming job for some reason.

I do IT in the Seattle area. No opportunity for advancement or pay raise, but I'm happy to be working. Been casual job hunting, and they want more quals and pay 30-percent less. My understanding is that it's -WORSE- in Oregon. Better have something to come to otherwise you'll be going back...or fighting that guy for dumpster rights.