Oregon businesses reported 100,100 vacancies in winter 2022. Vacancies decreased 3% from the fall and increased 82% from winter 2021. Employers reported difficulty filling 71% of winter 2022 vacancies. The average starting wage among this group of vacancies was around $19.90 per hour, an inflation-adjusted decrease of 2.5% from winter 2021 and 7.7% decrease from fall 2021. The unemployed-to-vacancy ratio dropped dramatically in the spring and summer. Oregon had 1.0 unemployed per job vacancy in January 2022 after reaching 5.8 in May 2020.
Leisure and hospitality had the most job vacancies in the winter, nearly doubling the number of vacancies from the previous quarter. Health care and social assistance had 17,300 vacancies in the winter. The average starting wage reported in summer was $19.90, an inflation adjusted decrease from the winter 2021 nominal wage of $18.99 (real wage $20.41). Total vacancies were up 82% from the level last winter.
The number of vacancies offering a starting wage below $15 per hour stayed flat over the year. The number of vacancies offering between $15 and $25 per hour increased 146% and vacancies paying above $25 per hour increased 88%. The occupations with the highest number of difficult-to-fill vacancies: • Cooks, restaurants (3,500) • Nursing assistants (2,700) • Retail salespersons (2,600) • Construction laborers (2,000)
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