Made in Oregon: A Profile of the State’s Manufacturing Sector

July 21, 2026

Oregon-made products can be found on store shelves across the country, and even around the world. Well-known Oregon exports like tasty cheeses, marionberry jam, fine wines, and craft beers proudly wear the state’s name right on their labels. While these products have obvious Oregon roots, plenty of what the state makes remains out of view. In fact, there’s a good chance that components in the device you’re using to read this article were made here in Oregon. Whether you see it on the label or not, Oregon’s manufacturing sector produces a wide range of goods, from wood pellets to aerospace parts. The diverse manufacturing sector remains integral to the state’s identity, but its role in the state’s economy is shifting.

A manufacturing establishment is defined as an establishment that mechanically, physically, or chemically transforms materials, substances, or components into new products. In 2025, Oregon was home to 6,995 manufacturing establishments, providing the state with 178,900 jobs or 9% of total payroll employment.

Manufacturing has a slightly larger than average footprint in Oregon (9% of employment, compared with 8% nationally) but is growing more slowly than the nation’s, which is a reversal from its historical pattern. By late 2022, Oregon had gained back most of the manufacturing jobs lost in the pandemic recession. However, employment in the sector has continually declined from 2023 to the present, with 2025 levels falling below COVID-era lows. Since its lowest employment level in February 2010 (which the United States reached again in April 2020), manufacturing employment in Oregon has grown by just 6%, compared with 10% nationally.Despite previously outperforming the U.S. in terms of long-term growth, Oregon has recently suffered relatively sharper declines in manufacturing since January 2019. Though there had been substantial recovery through 2022, employment in Oregon’s manufacturing sector declined by 13%, while U.S. manufacturing has declined by 2%. Oregon’s manufacturing sector once outpaced the nation over the long term but has now fallen behind.

Average wages in Oregon’s manufacturing sector have climbed steadily over the past two decades as the state made the shift from a more natural resource-based manufacturing sector to a center for high-tech manufacturing. In 2025, the average annual wage for manufacturing was roughly $90,100, comfortably above the state’s overall average wage of $73,700.

Looking at wages by industry within Oregon’s manufacturing sector, this gap is largely driven by higher wages in industries like the computer and electronic components manufacturing industry, which paid an annual average wage of about $161,000 in 2025. Excluding computer and electronic components manufacturing, the average wage across manufacturing industries was about $73,000, slightly below the state’s average.

Oregon’s Specialties

Oregon’s manufacturing sector looks very different than it does nationally. Computer and electronic components manufacturing comprises 19% of the sector statewide compared with about 8% of national manufacturing employment. Wood product manufacturing also has a strong presence in Oregon, making up 12% of sector employment compared with 3% of the sector nationally.A more detailed industry analysis shows just how diverse the manufacturing sector is, even as its largest industry has lost some ground. The largest detailed industry by far is the semiconductor and electronic components industry with roughly 28,300 jobs in 2025. It also pays far more on average than any other manufacturing industry at $173,000 compared with $90,100 across all manufacturing sectors.

True to Oregon’s long history in forestry, three of Oregon’s top industries are tied to our natural resources: veneer and engineered wood products (8,600 jobs), sawmills and wood preservation (5,900 jobs), and millwork (4,500 jobs). While employment in wood product manufacturing is but a fraction of what it was a few decades ago, these three industries combined play an influential role in Oregon’s manufacturing sector.

Three relatively low-paying industries in the top 10 largest manufacturing industries are frozen food manufacturing ($57,700), wineries ($50,000), and bread and bakery product manufacturing ($47,000). While these industries make up a large chunk of Oregon’s manufacturing sector, the jobs paid average annual wages considerably lower than the statewide average wage of $73,700.

Oregon is well-known across the country for its fresh produce. The number of food preservation businesses, specifically the canning, pickling, and drying of fruits and vegetables, has grown across the state substantially over the years. Employment has risen steadily over the years, and is highly seasonal due to employment spikes around harvest time, though there has been less fluctuation in the past decade. The annual average wage for fruit and vegetable canning, pickling, and drying is $60,100.

Another notable industry in Oregon is the motor vehicle body and trailer manufacturing industry. This industry includes recreational vehicle manufacturers. Prior to the recession in 2007, this industry peaked at 4,800 jobs. After suffering massive losses during the recession, the industry was left with less than 2,000 jobs. Employment had rebounded to 3,000 jobs in 2023 but has since fallen back to about 2,500 in 2025.

For more information on detailed industries, visit QualityInfo.org where information is published on 125 detailed Oregon manufacturing industries.

Long-Term Aging of the Mostly Male Workforce

The share of manufacturing workers by gender had remained unchanged for about 20 years prior to 2023, at about 73% men and 27% women. From 2023 through 2025, those shares have shifted slightly to 71% men and 29% women. Overall in 2025, women accounted for 47% of Oregon’s private-sector workers; that share also hasn’t changed much since 2001, but it is of course more balanced with women’s share of the population.

The manufacturing workforce in Oregon is older and aging slightly quicker than the workforce as a whole. Twenty years ago in 2005, 38% of Oregon’s workforce was between 14 and 34 years old. In manufacturing, about 29% of workers were between 14 and 34 years of age. In 2025, only 33% of the workforce was between 14 and 34 years old, while in manufacturing just 27% of workers were in this age group.

The share of workers ages 35 to 54 in manufacturing has declined by 10 percentage points compared with 20 years ago. In the overall workforce, this group’s share has declined by just 3 percentage points over the past 20 years.

In both the overall workforce and the manufacturing workforce, workers in the 55 and over age group make up a larger share now relative to 20 years ago. This demographic shift is partly due to the baby boomer cohort making up a larger share of the overall population. However, fewer younger workers are entering manufacturing and the workforce overall.
As workers retire, these positions will need to be filled by workers who have less experience in the field. This is true for both the overall workforce and the manufacturing workforce but is more pronounced for the manufacturing workforce as fewer young workers have joined.

Projections Show Modest Gains and Losses

The Oregon Employment Department projects that the state’s manufacturing sector will grow by just 2% between 2024 and 2034, a more modest outlook than in years past. Within manufacturing, machinery is expected to grow fastest at 9%. Wood products and transportation equipment are expected to decline by 1% each, and the paper products industry is expected to see the steepest decline at 15%. All other industries are expected to show modest growth between 1%-7%.

Manufacturing is expected to grow by 3,000 jobs between 2024 and 2034. Most of the movement in the sector’s jobs will come from replacement needs as existing workers retire or leave the industry, rather than from new jobs being added. Manufacturing may be anticipated to grow at a slower rate than the overall economy in coming years, but as the workforce continues to age there will be opportunities in the manufacturing industry of the future.

Production occupations with the most projected annual job openings include assemblers and fabricators (1,400); first-line supervisors (920); semiconductor processing technicians (770); inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (760); packaging and filling machine operators and tenders (640); and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (590). Many high-demand manufacturing occupations typically require a high school education at the entry level. Postsecondary training can make job seekers more competitive for today’s manufacturing jobs.

Conclusion

Oregon’s manufacturing sector is entering a period of slower growth, and in some industries, decline. Employment growth in the sector, which had historically outpaced the nation, has fallen further behind in recent years. Looking forward, the sector is projected to grow by 2% between 2024 and 2034, a net increase of 3,000 jobs. However, an aging workforce will create many opportunities in manufacturing as existing workers retire.