‘Always Open’ Job Vacancies in Oregon

January 07, 2026

Each quarter, the Oregon Employment Department surveys private employers from all industries and areas of the state to ask about the job vacancies they are actively trying to fill. The survey collects details about the job vacancies, including characteristics like whether it is a full-time or permanent position, the starting wage, and education and experience requirements. The survey also asks how long the employer has been actively trying to fill the vacancy. On average from 2015 to 2024, 23% of vacancies where the length of time open is known are considered “always open” by employers.  Typically, job vacancies that have been open for less than 30 days make up at least one-third of job vacancies in Oregon. During the elevated hiring seen in the post-pandemic recession period of 2021 and 2022, the share of job vacancies open less than 30 days dropped to 26% in 2021 and 22% in 2022. During those years, the majority of vacancies had been open more than 60 days (35% in 2021 and 36% in 2022). In 2021 and 2022, job vacancies soared to around 100,000 at any given time and unemployment was at record lows, making it difficult for employers to recruit workers. In 2023 and 2024, the job vacancies returned to more typical levels and stayed open for less time on average. 

Occupations with Lots of Always Open Vacancies

The concentration of “always open” vacancies varied greatly by broad occupation group in 2024. Leading the pack with 49% of vacancies was the protective service occupation group. Thirty-five percent of food preparation and serving related occupations were always open, while close to 30% of all vacancies within the construction and extraction; architecture and engineering; installation, maintenance and repair; and health care support occupations were kept always open. On the other end, the computer and mathematical; management; life, physical, and social science; and legal occupation groups had less than 1% of their vacancies always open. In 2024, 138 different detailed occupations had at least one “always open” vacancy reported in 2024. The occupations with the most always open vacancies included fast food and counter workers and personal care aides with 1,300 and 970, respectively. Other occupations with significant always open vacancies included heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, nursing assistants, and preschool teachers. All of these occupations, except truck drivers, tend to pay lower than average wages, which could contribute to difficulty filling vacancies and also keeping workers, requiring employers to recruit much more frequently.

Characteristics of ‘Always Open’ Vacancies 

Job vacancies that are always open differ from all other job vacancies in a few key ways. Although most vacancies across the state were for full-time and permanent positions, only 73% of always open vacancies were for full-time positions, compared to 80% for all other vacancies in 2024. Always open vacancies were also less likely to require education beyond high school and previous experience than all other vacancies. It also stands out that always open vacancies paid significantly lower wages on average compared with vacancies that were not always open. Always open job vacancies offered $22.88 per hour on average, while all other vacancies paid almost four dollars more on average, or $26.04.  

The lower average wage, coupled with the lower frequency of full-time positions, may contribute to always open vacancies being much more likely to be difficult to fill. Seventy-five percent of always open vacancies were considered to be difficult to fill by the recruiting employers, while only 50% of all other vacancies were difficult to fill. Conversely, the vacancy may be known to be difficult to fill, which is why the employer keeps it always open. 

The Ghost Job Posting Phenomena 

In recent years, there has been discussion about a phenomenon called ghost job postings. A report by the Congressional Research Service defines ghost postings as online job postings for positions that do not exist, or that employers are not planning to fill immediately. Questions often arise about whether job vacancy totals are inflated by ghost postings. There are no official statistics on the magnitude of ghost job listings nor an effective way to accurately measure such a phenomena. However, like with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), Oregon’s Job Vacancy Survey’s (JVS) criteria for job openings does not incentivize employers reporting ghost job postings. The JVS asks employers about job vacancies that they are actively trying to fill and the confidential nature of the responses means employers would get little from signaling nonexistent hiring. Since Oregon’s JVS began in 2013, employers have always reported a share of vacancies as always open. Job vacancies in Oregon’s survey that are considered “always open” can illustrate characteristics of jobs postings that are consistently advertised by employers and may be misinterpreted as ghost postings.