During 2013, Southwest Oregon’s private employers were looking to fill about 2,853 job vacancies at any given time, according to new annual figures from the Oregon Employment Department’s Job Vacancy Survey. The Job Vacancy Survey provides a snapshot of the labor market job seekers face. These results are for Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson and Josephine counties during 2013. A statewide report was also released. More than 180 occupations in Southwest Oregon had vacancies in 2013. The top 25 occupations shown in the table represent nearly two-thirds (65%) of the total. Seven occupations had more than 100 vacancies each: personal care aides; maids and housekeeping cleaners; heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; firefighters; registered nurses; material movers, laborers and helpers; and customer service representatives. Wages offered for job vacancies varied widely depending on the education requirement. Vacancies that did not require education beyond high school offered an average hourly wage of $11.71 per hour, compared with average hourly wages of $28.19 per hour for vacancies that required an associate degree, $24.63 per hour for a bachelor’s degree, and $24.45 for a graduate degree. This is a bit counterintuitive as most other data sources show that advanced degrees typically pay higher than an associate degree. Employers also offered higher wages when their vacancies required more than one year of previous experience. Vacancies with no experience requirement paid an average of $12.33 per hour. Those requiring less than one year of experience paid $10.82 per hour. For vacancies that required one to five years of previous work experience, the average wage offered was $17.19 per hour, while those that required five or more years of experience averaged $24.61. The health care and social assistance industry accounted for one out of four vacancies, more than any other industry sector. Two additional industries each accounted for more than 12 percent of Southwestern Oregon’s job vacancies: management, administrative, and waste services (which includes company headquarters and temporary staffing agencies, among other businesses); and leisure and hospitality. The survey captured data for five sub-state regions: Northwest Oregon/Willamette Valley; the Portland Tri-County area; Southwestern Oregon; Central Oregon; and Eastern Oregon. The Portland Tri-County area had just over 16,000 vacancies, 49 percent of the statewide total. Vacancies in the Portland Tri-County area were more likely to require education beyond high school, and offered higher wages on average, at $16.61 per hour. The Oregon Job Vacancy Survey has been conducted since 2008. The 2013 Oregon Job Vacancy Survey results represent the first ever combination of four quarters worth of vacancy surveys. The estimates are based on responses from 10,600 Oregon employers. Vacancy survey results for the first quarter of 2014 are scheduled for release in April 2014. A special report on Oregon’s difficult-to-fill vacancies will be available later this spring. For more details on statewide and regional vacancies, visit the “publications” tab on QualityInfo.org and scroll down to the section titled “Oregon Job Vacancies.”
