OLMIS

by Nick Beleiciks
Published Sep-21-2009

Health Care Industry had the Most Vacancies Health Care Occupations in High Demand Stable Jobs Require More Education Recession Cuts Vacancies by Nearly Two-Thirds Half of Vacancies Were in the Portland Area

In the spring of 2009, employers in Oregon reported having 18,242 open job vacancies that needed to be filled. Despite the fact that over 100,000 nonfarm jobs had been lost since the recession started in December 2007 and that 12.2 percent of the statewide labor force was unemployed, the 2009 Oregon Job Vacancy Survey found that employers were still in need of workers with the right training, skills, and experience.

The 2009 survey is the second in a series designed to help find out which types of businesses are hiring and which positions need filling. Thousands of firms throughout the state were contacted in late May and early June and asked about their 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 effects of the recession were clearly evident in the 2009 survey results. Last year the survey found 47,888 vacancies, more than two and a half times this year's estimated number of vacancies. The drop in the number of help wanted signs is discouraging. At the same time, results from the survey show that even when the economy is in deep recession, there are still thousands of opportunities for workers across a broad variety of fields.

Job vacancies were found in all the major industrial groups (Table 1). Forty-eight percent of the open positions required education beyond the high school level and half required an occupation-related license or certificate. Examples of license or certificate requirements include commercial driver's license (CDL), cosmetologist, licensed practical nurse, Oregon food handler's card, as well as others.

The health care and social assistance industry had 5,744 vacancies in spring, by far the most of any industry. This industry is one of Oregon's largest private industries and also one of the fastest growing. Most health care and social assistance vacancies require education beyond high school and a license or certificate.

Accommodation and food services had the second most vacancies with 2,535. In contrast to the health care and social assistance industry, only 2 percent of accommodation and food services vacancies required education beyond high school. Almost three-fourths required a license or certificate.

The educational services industry and the retail trade industry each had more than 1,500 vacancies. Nearly two-thirds of all vacancies were concentrated in the top four industries with the most openings. Educational services and health care and social assistance were two of the rare industries that were growing at the time of the vacancy survey.

Not surprisingly, educational services was the industry with the largest share of vacancies that required education beyond high school. Transportation, warehousing, and utilities had the largest share of vacancies that required a license or certificate - 75 percent - and information had the smallest share at 9 percent.

Oregon employers had vacancies in nearly 400 different occupations representing everything from accountants to word processors and typists. The 20 occupations with the most vacancies are shown in Table 2, along with the share of vacancies that were open for at least 60 days.

Statewide, 11 percent of job vacancies were long-term vacancies. Openings lasting this long are typically an indication that the employer is having a difficult time finding qualified workers.

Registered nurses had the most vacancies of any occupation. There were 1,004 vacancies in this occupation and 11 percent had been open at least two months. Retail salespersons were also in high demand with 556 vacancies. Very few of these vacancies were open for 60 days or more. Other occupations that had a high share of long-term vacancies and were on the top 10 list were packaging machine operators, postsecondary teachers, physical therapists, and medical and health services managers.

The health care and educational services industries are two of the fastest growing industries in Oregon, but the job openings in both go beyond health care and education occupations. Openings are also available for the wide range of occupations that provide support to the industry and do not require additional education or an occupational license or certificate. In other words, fast growing industries have the need for additional workers outside the industry's primary occupations.

In the health care industry, more than one-tenth of the vacancies required a high-school diploma but not a license or certificate. These occupations ranged from administrative services managers to wholesale technical and scientific sales representatives, with the most vacancies being for home health and personal care aides.

There is a similar need for support occupations in the growing educational services industry. Seven percent of these vacancies require a high-school diploma but do not require an occupational license or certificate. These occupations ranged from coaches to veterinary technicians, with a high demand for janitors and teacher assistants.

Employers were generally looking for workers with experience to fill their vacancies. The survey found that 71 percent of all vacancies required someone with prior work experience.

For many vacancies in Oregon, a college education is not necessary (Table 3). For more than 4,700 of the vacancies, employers explicitly stated that they had no educational requirement for the positions. However, only 39 percent of these vacancies were for full-time positions and only 67 percent were permanent positions.

Across all vacancies, 67 percent were for full-time positions and 84 percent were for permanent positions. As the level of required education for a vacancy increases, so does the likelihood that the position will be full time and permanent. At the same time, employers looking for applicants with higher educational levels are also looking for applicants with previous experience, suggesting that a degree alone may not be enough to qualify for an open position.

The effect of the recession was obvious in the change from 47,888 vacancies in 2008 to 18,242 vacancies in 2009, a 62 percent drop. There were fewer vacancies in all industries. Health care and social assistance vacancies dropped 44 percent, the least of any industry.

Although there are still thousands of openings that need to be filled, the competition for those positions has increased dramatically. Comparing the vacancy survey results with the number of unemployed individuals estimated in the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program finds that this spring there were about 13 unemployed individuals for each job vacancy. That compares to about two unemployed individuals for each job vacancy in May 2008.

With that kind of surplus in the number of job seekers, employers have likely become more selective when hiring for most positions. The share of vacancies requiring education beyond high school increased from 34 percent in 2008, when vacancies were relatively plentiful, to 48 percent in 2009. This could be a sign that employers have raised the requirements for open positions because of the increased number of applicants, or it could be a sign that the occupational mix of vacancies during the recession has shifted toward jobs requiring advanced skills.

Results from the survey also include information about job vacancies by region. Seven survey regions were created to collect job vacancy data at the sub-state level. Summary data for each region are shown in Table 4.

Almost half of Oregon's job vacancies were in the Portland Tri-County area, an area that holds half of the state's total employment. Vacancies in the Portland Tri-County area were more likely to be permanent positions and require education beyond high school than vacancies in other areas.

The job vacancy rate, the ratio of the number of vacancies to the number of filled jobs, was 1.3 percent statewide. Vacancy rates were similar across all areas except for Northwest Oregon, which had a vacancy rate of 2.3 percent, and Eastern Oregon, which had a vacancy rate of 1.8 percent.

The Jobs Vacancies in Oregon report and the vacancy reports by region will be available soon on the Publications page at www.QualityInfo.org:

• 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)
  
• Southern Willamette Valley/Central Coast (Benton, Lane, Lincoln, and Linn counties)
  
• Southwest Oregon (Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, and Josephine counties)