Oregon Job Job in Northwest Oregon Shawna Sykes, Workforce Analyst, Shawna.L.Sykes@state.or.us, (503) 397-4995 ext. 232 October 2009 About the Survey Every job opening represents an opportunity for someone to find work and for a business to grow their production or service capabilities. Helping businesses find good workers and Oregonians find good jobs requires knowing more about the recruitment needs of employers. Which businesses are hiring? Which jobs do they need to fill? Why are companies having trouble filling some positions? The spring 2009 Job Vacancy Survey was designed to help answer these questions. Thousands of firms throughout the state were contacted about their immediate workforce needs and the nature of current job openings. Essentially, we asked these businesses if they had a Help Wanted sign in the window and to tell us a little bit about their job openings. The effect of the recession was evident in the 2009 survey results. There was a significant drop in the number of vacancies since last year s survey. At the same time, results show that even when the unemployment rate is at an all-time high, there are still lots of opportunities for workers across a broad variety of fields. Executive Summary In Northwest Oregon, more than 900 firms in Clatsop, Columbia, and Tillamook counties were surveyed and approximately 12 percent had current job openings. There were an estimated 672 job vacancies within the region. One in five of those job vacancies had been unfilled for two months or longer. Many different occupations had vacancies, but the 25 occupations with the most vacancies represented 75 percent of the region s job vacancies, suggesting that vacancies are concentrated in a limited number of occupations. The accommodation and food services industry had the most vacancies. Health care and social assistance had the second largest number of vacancies. Combined, these two industries accounted for 65 percent of the region s vacancies. Of the businesses providing wage information, one in ten jobs offered a starting wage of $15 an hour or more, while 90 percent paid less than $15 an hour. Top 25 Jobs in Demand The top occupations in demand in Northwest Oregon are spread across a wide range of wages, skill levels, and industries. Food preparation and serving workers had the largest number of vacancies with 133 openings and represented almost 20 percent of the total vacancies (Table 1). Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants made up the third most in-demand occupation this spring with 39 job vacancies, which was 6 percent of the total vacancies in the region. Half of these vacancies had been open for 60 days or longer. Other occupations in high demand included maids and housekeeping cleaners, counter attendants, glaziers, receptionists, cashiers, restaurant cooks and hosts/hostesses. Each occupation represented more than 3 percent of total vacancies. Together, these top 10 occupations with the most vacancies accounted for over half of all openings. Some of these jobs had a continual need for new staff which could be due to higher than normal turnover, wages at the low end of the pay scale, or other human resource management challenges. Food service and preparation jobs, restaurant hosts and hostesses, and maids and housekeepers all had continual vacancies at the time of the survey. Several health care occupations were also on the difficult to fill list (vacant 60+ days) including nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants; registered nurses; and physical therapists. In addition, nearly one-third of vacancies for automotive service technicians and mechanics were vacant for 60 days or more. Job by Industry The accommodation and food services industry had 299 vacancies,
Oregon Job October 2009 Table 1 Top 25 Occupations in Northwest Oregon With the Highest Number of Job, Spring 2009 Share of Total Vacant 60+ Days Occupation All Occupations 672 100% 19% Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food 83 12% 0% Food Preparation Workers 50 7% 74% Nursing Aides, Orderlies, and Attendants 39 6% 50% Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners 38 6% 0% Counter Attendants in Cafeterias, Food Concessions, and Coffee Shops 28 4% 0% Glaziers 26 4% 0% Receptionists and Information Clerks 25 4% 0% Cashiers 25 4% 0% Cooks, Restaurant 22 3% 0% Hosts and Hostesses in Restaurants, Lounges, and Coffee Shops 22 3% 83% Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers 18 3% 100% Customer Service Representatives 15 2% 0% Coaches and Scouts 12 2% 0% Personal and Home Care Aides 11 2% 0% Registered Nurses 11 2% 33% Tellers 10 2% 0% Retail Salespersons 9 1% 0% Maintenance and Repair Workers, General 8 1% 0% Medical Assistants 8 1% 0% Residential Advisors 8 1% 0% Dishwashers 7 1% 0% Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics 7 1% 31% Computer Support Specialists 6 1% 0% Physical Therapists 6 1% 50% Physicians and Surgeons, All Other 6 1% 0% Table 2 Northwest Oregon Job by Industry, Spring 2009 Created Education Beyond All Industries 672 1% 20% 50% Accommodation and Food Services 299 0% 1% 48% Health Care and Social Assistance 135 0% 58% 76% Manufacturing 50 0% 19% 62% Construction 42 0% 8% 13% Retail Trade 31 0% 0% 21% Other Services 27 0% 27% 45% Educational Services 21 0% 100% 100% Finance and Insurance 16 0% 13% 11% Professional and Technical 11 31% 52% 0% Information 10 0% 66% 0% Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 8 0% 0% 22% Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities 7 0% 39% 79% Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing 5 0% 0% 37% Administrative and Waste Services 4 0% 67% 0% Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation 4 0% 33% 0% Management of Companies 1 0% 0% 0% the most of any industry in the Northwest Oregon region. Since the survey data was collected in the spring and Northwest Oregon s coastal counties have a large percentage of leisure and hospitality-related businesses that typically add seasonal staff to serve the summer tourists, it s not a big surprise that the greatest number of openings was in this industry. The five industries with the most vacancies were accommodation and food services, health care, manufacturing, construction, and retail trade. Combined, these industries accounted for over four-fifths of all vacancies. 2
Oregon Job October 2009 Only 1 percent of all job vacancies in the region were newly created positions, suggesting that the vast majority of job openings were created by turnover or replacement needs, not expansion at new or existing firms. The professional and technical services industry was the only industry in the region reporting newly created job vacancies with nearly onethird of openings reported as new. Businesses in this industry include engineering, architectural, accounting, legal, and public relations firms, as well as veterinarians, computer and graphic design companies, photographers, and other professional service providers. Graph 1 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Share of Northwest Oregon Job Education Beyond by Size of Firms, Spring 2009 <10 10 to 19 20 to 49 50 to 99 100 to 249 250 and up Employees Table 3 Of all open jobs in Northwest Oregon, 50 percent required a jobrelated license or certificate, and only 20 percent required the worker to have education beyond the high school level. All of the vacancies in the educational services industry required education beyond high school as well as a license or certificate. Education Number of Vacancy Full-time Permanent Created Beyond High Previous Employees Rate* School Experience Total 672 2.3% 43% 70% 1% 20% 50% 42% <10 125 1.5% 66% 78% 3% 26% 38% 66% 10-19 72 1.3% 43% 78% 0% 22% 65% 41% 20-49 209 3.6% 34% 80% 0% 9% 57% 38% 50-99 144 4.7% 25% 40% 0% 16% 28% 14% 100-249 54 1.6% 53% 92% 0% 24% 51% 67% 250 & up 69 2.1% 58% 61% 0% 51% 76% 55% * divided by employment in Fourth Quarter 2008 Northwest Oregon Job by Firm Size, Spring 2009 Graph 2 Nearly four out of five vacancies in transportation, warehousing, and utilities required a license or certificate. Over three-fourths of health care and social assistance industry openings required a license or certificate, and nearly two-thirds of manufacturing job openings. Almost half of vacancies in the accommodation and food service industry required a license or certificate. Most occupations in food services require that the worker has an Oregon food handler s card. Job 500 400 300 200 100 No Requirement Northwest Oregon Job by Required Education, Spring 2009 Some College Assoc./Voc. Degree Bachelor's Degree Graduate Degree Other Those industries with openings that did not require education beyond 0 3
Oregon Job October 2009 high school were retail trade; agriculture, forestry, and fishing; real estate and rental and leasing; and management of companies.. Job by Size of Business Table 4 Mid-size companies (with 20 to 99 employees) accounted for more than half of all vacancies in Northwest Oregon at the time of the survey. Smaller firms with 19 or fewer employees made up another 30 percent of all vacancies. Unlike the statewide results, which showed large employers with the greatest number of job openings, businesses with 100 or more employees made up only 18 percent of the total openings in Northwest Oregon. Northwest Oregon Job by Required Education Level, Spring 2009 Created Previous Experience Required Education Level Full-time Permanent Total 672 43% 70% 1% 50% 42% No Requirement 406 29% 58% 0% 49% 22% 102 39% 85% 0% 25% 67% Some College 18 91% 100% 0% 62% 91% Assoc/Voc. Degree 24 58% 94% 0% 58% 93% Bachelor's Degree 42 100% 97% 5% 52% 100% Graduate Degree 18 100% 100% 0% 100% 82% Other 28 75% 95% 0% 100% 12% No Response 33 50% 59% 0% 54% 83% Graph 3 Northwest Oregon Job by Hourly Wage, Spring 2009 $25.00 to $29.99 $20.00 to $24.99 $15.00 to $19.99 $30 and up Full-time positions accounted for 43 percent of all Northwest Oregon job vacancies, and 70 percent of all job vacancies were in permanent positions. Small businesses had the larg- Table 5 $10.00 to $14.99 $8.40 to $9.99 Wage (per hour) Northwest Oregon Job by Hourly Wage Range, Spring 2009 Full-time Permanent Created Education Beyond Previous Experience Total 672 43% 70% 1% 20% 50% 42% $8.40 - $9.99 342 18% 47% 0% 8% 56% 10% $10 - $14.99 90 58% 90% 0% 16% 39% 64% $15 - $19.99 20 100% 93% 0% 44% 53% 78% $20 - $24.99 8 45% 100% 0% 100% 42% 79% $25 - $29.99 11 85% 100% 17% 100% 65% 100% $30 and up 11 100% 100% 0% 100% 100% 100% Unspecified 190 69% 94% 0% 31% 40% 78% 4
Oregon Job October 2009 est share of full time positions within the region at 66 percent. Businesses with 100 to 249 employees had the largest share of openings for permanent positions at 92 percent. The largest companies (250 employees or more) had a larger share of vacancies requiring higher education, with 51 percent of openings requiring education beyond high school. The largest firms were also more likely to require a license or certificate. Graph 4 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% Share of Northwest Oregon Job Education Beyond by Hourly Wage Range, Spring 2009 Firms with fewer than 10 employees and those with 100 to 249 employees required education beyond high school for about one-fourth of their vacancies. Job by Education Requirement About 95 percent of the reported vacancies included information on educational requirements. Of these 0% $8.40 to $9.99 $10.00 to $14.99 $15.00 to $19.99 vacancies, the largest share (64 percent) had no educational requirement, 16 percent required a high school diploma or GED and 7 percent required some college or other educational requirement. $20.00 to $24.99 $25.00 to $29.99 $30 and up Employers were looking for workers with an associate s degree or more for 13 percent of their vacancies. Job openings that required more education tended to be full-time positions. Only 29 percent of vacan- Table 6 Northwest Oregon Job by Occupational Group, Spring 2009 Full-time Vacant 60+ Days Education Beyond Previous Experience All Occupation Groups 672 43% 19% 20% 50% 42% Food Preparation and Serving 238 11% 31% 0% 62% 19% Office and Administrative Support 64 31% 0% 5% 27% 50% Healthcare Support 50 77% 36% 58% 90% 33% Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance 43 38% 9% 0% 4% 9% Sales and Related 35 49% 0% 0% 47% 33% Construction and Extraction 34 92% 0% 9% 8% 100% Healthcare Practitioners and Technical 33 90% 35% 100% 92% 90% Personal Care and Service 31 11% 0% 28% 40% 55% Management 26 94% 22% 77% 33% 85% Transportation and Material Moving 22 45% 0% 6% 53% 28% Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 20 83% 12% 32% 17% 64% Production 17 91% 12% 17% 33% 44% Education, Training, and Library 15 91% 13% 75% 89% 100% Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 14 0% 0% 58% 86% 77% Community and Social Services 11 61% 19% 47% 33% 58% Business and Financial Operations 7 67% 0% 44% 0% 67% Computer and Mathematical 6 100% 0% 100% 0% 100% Architecture and Engineering 3 100% 0% 0% 0% 100% Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 2 100% 0% 0% 0% 0% Protective Service 2 100% 100% 0% 100% 100% 5
Oregon Job October 2009 cies with no educational requirement were full-time positions compared to 100 percent of those jobs requiring a bachelor s or graduate degree. created positions accounted for about 1 percent of all vacancies. Half of the newly created positions required a bachelor s degree. that required higher education were more likely to require an additional license or certificate than vacancies with high school, some college, or no educational requirement. Job by Wage Wage information was not available for every vacancy, but employers did provide the starting wage for 72 percent of all vacancies. Of those vacancies with wage information available, 71 percent offered wages between Oregon s minimum wage of $8.40 and $9.99 per hour. Another 19 percent of the job vacancies offered between $10 and $14.99 per hour. The remaining 10 percent of vacancies offered $15 per hour or more at starting. Lower wage vacancies tended to be entry level jobs, with only 10 percent of vacancies paying less than $10 an hour requiring previous experience. Nearly half of jobs in this wage range were permanent positions, and relatively few required education beyond high school. Most vacancies offering $10 per hour or more required previous experience for consideration. Employers more frequently required higher education, licensure or experience as higher wages were offered. All vacancies offering $20 or more per hour required education beyond high school and all of those offering $25 per hour or more required higher education and previous experience. Surprisingly, during these challenging economic times, 70 percent of all vacancies were reported as permanent positions. Northwest Oregon had a much higher percentage of job openings offering less than $10 per hour than Oregon as a whole. In every other wage range, the percentage of job openings statewide was greater than in Northwest Oregon, in most categories by 5 percentage points or more. Job by Occupational Group Job vacancies in Northwest Oregon were available in every occupational group, though several groups had high concentrations of vacancies. The group with the most vacancies was food preparation and serving with 238 openings reported, followed by office and administrative support with 64 vacancies. Health care support this includes occupations such as nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants was the third highest occupational group, with 50 vacancies. Whether or not a vacancy is for a full-time position depends on the type of occupation being filled. All of the vacancies in computer and mathematical; architecture and engineering; farming, fishing, and forestry; and protective service occupational groups were full time, while only 11 percent of the vacancies for food preparation and serving and personal care and service were full time. All of the vacancies in the construction and extraction; education, training, and library; computer and mathematical; architecture and engineering; and protective service groups required previous experience to qualify. A few occupational groups stand out as having higher percentages of openings vacant for two months or more, suggesting training or recruiting challenges in those fields: protective service, healthcare support, healthcare practitioners and technical, and management. Statewide, the occupational groups with the greatest percentage of openings vacant for 60 days or longer were production, community and social services, and architecture and engineering. Conclusion The spring 2009 survey of Northwest Oregon businesses found an estimated 672 job vacancies, of which one out of five went unfilled for two or more months. spanned a wide range of occupations, with combined food preparation and serving workers topping the list. The accommodation and food services and health care and social assistance industries had the most job vacancies, and these two industries accounted for nearly two-thirds of all vacancies. for full-time positions, those in large firms, and those in the educational services industry were more likely to require education beyond high school. paying higher hourly wages were also more likely to require education beyond high school. Northwest Oregon s job vacancies spanned a wide range of hourly wages, with 71 percent paying less than $10 per hour and one in ten vacancies paying $15 or more per hour at starting. 6
Oregon Job October 2009 Reports are available for the following regions: Central Coast/Willamette Valley (Benton, Lane, Lincoln, and Linn counties) Clackamas County Central Oregon/Columbia Gorge (Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Hood River, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Sherman, Wasco, and Wheeler counties) Eastern Oregon (Baker, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, Union, and Wallowa counties) Marion, Polk, and Yamhill counties Northwest Oregon (Columbia, Clatsop, and Tillamook counties) Portland Tri-County (Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties) Southwest Oregon (Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, and Josephine counties) Statewide To view the Job in Oregon reports, go to the Publications page at www.qualityinfo.org. Oregon Job Oregon Job is published by the Workforce & Economic Research Division of the Oregon Employment Department. Oregon Job can be found under Publications on OED s labor market information Web site, www.qualityinfo.org. Laurie Warner, Director Graham Slater, Administrator for Workforce & Economic Research Production Team: Nick Beleiciks Brooke Jackson-Winegardner Jim Lee Paul Marche Mark Miller Jessica Nelson Kathi Riddell Graham Slater Address changes: Workforce & Economic Research 875 Union Street NE, Rm 207 Salem, OR 97311 or phone (503) 947-1204, TDD 1-800-237-3710, e-mail: lmipubs.emp@state.or.us Material contained in this publication is in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission. Please credit Oregon Job, Oregon Employment Department. Any information on individual companies comes from nonconfidential published sources. WorkSource Oregon is an equal opportunity employer/program. WorkSource Oregon es un programa/empleador que respeta la igualdad de oportunidades. RSPUB 254-03 (1009) 7