Oregon’s Employment Department recently released a report revealing that the state has a plethora of job openings.
Between fall 2013 and fall 2014, job openings in the region increased by 41 percent. The fourth quarter of 2014 boasted 45,685 vacancies. About three-quarters of these jobs were full-time positions, and 85 percent of them were permanent.
The retail sector had the most openings, with just over 7,000 positions available. The health care and social assistance industry was searching for 6,735 workers, while the manufacturing field needed over 5,000 jobs filled. Administrative and waste services had 5,193 openings, while leisure and hospitality had 4,001.
According to the report, about half of all the jobs posted were considered by employers to be “difficult to fill.” The Oregonian explained that this means they either did not bring in enough applicants, or the people applying for the jobs lacked the appropriate qualifications. Officials in the state are looking into how to fix this issue, which the source described as a “skills mismatch.”
While the state’s unemployment rate remains somewhat high – for every job opening, there are three unemployed Oregonians – it has come a long way since the end of 2013, noted the report. At this time, Oregon’s unemployed population outnumbered available positions eight to one.