During 2013, Central Oregon’s private employers were looking to fill about 3,000 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 Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Hood River, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Sherman, Wasco, and Wheeler counties in 2013.
More than 400 occupations statewide had vacancies in 2013. The top 25 Central Oregon occupations shown in the table represent nearly 72 percent of the total. Seven occupations had more than 100 vacancies each: personal care aides, farmworkers and laborers, janitors and cleaners, registered nurses, food preparation and serving workers, material movers, and teacher assistants.
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 $11.06 per hour, compared with average hourly wages of $19.33 per hour for vacancies that required an associate degree, $26.14 per hour for a bachelor’s degree, and $39.05 for a graduate degree.
Employers also offered higher wages when their vacancies required more than a year of previous experience. Vacancies with no experience requirement paid an average of $9.98 per hour. Those requiring less than one year of experience paid $10.57 per hour. For vacancies that required one to five years of previous work experience, the average wage offered was $15.87 per hour, while those that required five or more years of experience averaged $29.76.
The health care and social assistance industry accounted for nearly two out of five vacancies (39%), more than any other industry sector. The management, administrative, and waste services industry (which includes company headquarters and temporary staffing agencies, among other businesses) accounted for 15 percent of Central Oregon job vacancies. The natural resources and mining industry represented 9 percent of Central Oregon job vacancies and the leisure and hospitality industry also accounted for 9 percent.
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 www.QualityInfo.org and scroll down to the section titled “Oregon Job Vacancies.”
