Top Occupations Oregon Employers Were Hiring in 2025 Job Vacancies
March 12, 2026Throughout the year, the Oregon Employment Department surveys private employers with two or more employees from all industries and areas of the state to ask about job vacancies they are actively trying to fill. For each vacancy, the employer provides the job title, starting wage, and education and experience requirements for the job. Details about the decline in vacancies are available in Oregon Private Job Vacancies: 2025 Job Vacancies Remained Flat.
Oregon private employers reported 58,500 job openings at any given time in 2025. This was essentially unchanged from the 57,800 job openings seen in 2024. Oregon saw record high levels of job vacancies in the recovery from the pandemic recession in 2021 and 2022, while 2023 vacancy levels were slightly declined but still elevated from the previous high seen in 2017 (60,700). In 2024, job vacancies returned to pre-pandemic levels, which is where they remained in 2025. Employers were hiring for a variety of jobs and reported vacancies across nearly 350 different occupations.
Job Titles with the Most Hiring Activity
Occupations with the highest number of job vacancies in 2025 reflected a need for different occupations across Oregon but with an emphasis on health care support jobs. Occupations with the most openings in 2025 included personal care aides (5,100); heavy tractor-trailer truck drivers (2,300); retail salespersons (2,100); and nursing assistants (1,800).
| Occupation | Vacancies | Full-Time Positions | Require Previous Experience | Difficult to Fill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Occupations | 58,465 | 80.1% | 62.8% | 54.4% |
| Personal Care Aides | 5,102 | 67.8% | 24.5% | 40.2% |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 2,271 | 91.9% | 88.6% | 82.1% |
| Retail Salespersons | 2,102 | 76.9% | 50.9% | 51.4% |
| Nursing Assistants | 1,803 | 86.6% | 52.6% | 34.2% |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 1,363 | 16.9% | 20.2% | 36.2% |
| Maintenance and Repair Workers, General | 1,121 | 83.6% | 92.6% | 40.6% |
| Registered Nurses | 1,023 | 75.2% | 78.9% | 79.6% |
| Social and Human Service Assistants | 975 | 72.7% | 38.2% | 26.3% |
| Cooks, Restaurant | 950 | 53.5% | 78.1% | 85.9% |
| Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics | 938 | 94.7% | 94.7% | 66.8% |
| Production Workers, All Other | 814 | 100.0% | 62.5% | 31.4% |
| Customer Service Representatives | 713 | 85.7% | 50.2% | 33.8% |
| Construction Laborers | 712 | 87.6% | 64.5% | 37.5% |
| Cashiers | 689 | 47.6% | 16.1% | 37.2% |
| Waiters and Waitresses | 682 | 43.1% | 65.2% | 63.3% |
| Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists | 681 | 96.2% | 22.5% | 81.5% |
| Light Truck Drivers | 649 | 100.0% | 70.4% | 34.7% |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 628 | 55.4% | 40.1% | 4.9% |
| Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 586 | 51.9% | 17.2% | 53.9% |
| Painters, Construction and Maintenance | 584 | 100.0% | 97.6% | 61.0% |
| Receptionists and Information Clerks | 543 | 81.8% | 63.9% | 54.1% |
| Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products | 532 | 100.0% | 65.6% | 51.1% |
| Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers | 529 | 92.4% | 41.0% | 78.8% |
| Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists | 504 | 100.0% | 96.2% | 82.3% |
| Project Management Specialists | 503 | 100.0% | 77.1% | 64.8% |
In 2025, most job vacancies tended to be for full-time and permanent jobs. In most of the top occupations, at least seven out of 10 openings were full-time. Jobs more likely to be part-time included fast food and counter workers (17% full-time), waiters and waitresses (43%), cashiers (48%), and maids and housekeeping cleaners (52%).
Employers were looking to permanently fill jobs with remarkable consistency – overall, 93% of openings were for permanent as opposed to temporary positions. Landscaping and groundskeeping workers (55%) and waiters and waitresses (69%) had the lowest shares of permanent openings among these top occupations.
A characteristic that varied greatly by occupations was the requirement for previous experience, with 63% of all vacancies in 2025 requiring at least some level experience. The top occupations least likely to require experience included cashiers (16%), maids and housekeeping cleaners (17%), and fast food and counter workers (20%). But nearly all vacancies for other occupations required some level of experience – including construction and maintenance painters (98%); bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists (96%); and automotive service technicians and mechanics (95%).
Employers reported about half (54%) of their vacancies as difficult to fill in 2025. This is a similar level of difficulty filling vacancies that was seen prior to and during the pandemic recession of 2020. Of the occupations with more than 500 job vacancies in 2025, employers reported the most difficulty filling openings for restaurant cooks (86%); bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists (82%); and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (82%). Less than one-third of openings were difficult to fill among production workers (31%), social and human service assistants (26%); and hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (5%).
Hiring Activity by Broad Category
The detailed occupations in the first table, those with more than 500 vacancies in 2025, accounted for 46% of all vacancies reported. Vacancies were reported in almost 350 occupations over the course of the year. Summing these openings up by broad occupation group gives us a more thorough sense of the hiring happening in 2025.
| Occupation | Vacancies | Average Hourly Wage | Require Education Beyond High School | Require Previous Experience | Difficult to Fill |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Occupations | 58,465 | $26.72 | 33.0% | 62.8% | 54.4% |
| Health Care Support | 8,266 | $21.53 | 26.9% | 35.4% | 44.6% |
| Transportation and Material Moving | 5,494 | $22.98 | 36.3% | 66.4% | 52.5% |
| Health Care Practitioners and Technical | 4,756 | $49.76 | 91.9% | 63.2% | 70.4% |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related | 4,661 | $16.70 | 3.3% | 51.3% | 55.1% |
| Sales and Related | 4,421 | $25.64 | 9.2% | 47.6% | 46.1% |
| Installation, Maintenance, and Repair | 4,388 | $27.09 | 22.6% | 87.9% | 62.6% |
| Office and Administrative Support | 4,244 | $21.48 | 13.3% | 72.7% | 33.0% |
| Construction and Extraction | 3,279 | $29.45 | 15.7% | 86.6% | 67.5% |
| Production | 3,060 | $21.74 | 10.6% | 58.1% | 52.9% |
| Community and Social Service | 2,716 | $26.04 | 50.1% | 48.4% | 50.7% |
| Business and Financial Operations | 2,551 | $30.94 | 66.5% | 77.7% | 52.1% |
| Management | 2,436 | $40.33 | 49.7% | 97.0% | 61.4% |
| Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance | 1,614 | $19.16 | 1.8% | 32.8% | 60.7% |
| Personal Care and Service | 1,481 | $19.51 | 62.9% | 40.4% | 61.2% |
| Education, Training, and Library | 1,186 | $21.06 | 49.7% | 78.1% | 56.4% |
| Architecture and Engineering | 906 | $41.77 | 87.0% | 96.8% | 74.5% |
| Protective Service | 702 | $21.68 | <1% | 79.9% | 67.1% |
| Legal | 597 | $45.09 | 89.3% | 100.0% | 83.6% |
| Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media | 574 | $19.84 | 3.8% | 50.7% | 61.5% |
| Computer and Mathematical | 511 | $53.79 | 78.9% | 95.3% | 15.1% |
| Farming, Fishing, and Forestry | 455 | $23.07 | <1% | 90.8% | 84.8% |
| Life, Physical, and Social Science | 167 | $40.81 | 80.7% | 100.0% | 50.3% |
Health care support occupations led the pack in Oregon with 8,300 job vacancies at any given time in 2025. Transportation and material moving occupations had the second most hiring with 5,500 vacancies. Health care practitioners and technical and food preparation and serving related occupations followed with 4,800 and 4,700 job vacancies, respectively. Together, health care support and health care practitioners and technical occupations over one-fifth of all job vacancies in 2025.
The average hourly wage amongst 2025 job vacancies was $26.72 but this varied greatly amongst occupation groups. Computer and mathematical occupations ($53.79) and health care practitioners and technical occupations ($49.76) offered the highest wages in 2025, while food prep and serving related positions ($16.70) and building and grounds cleaning maintenance occupations ($19.16) offered the lowest. These occupations also had significantly different requirements for education and previous experience.
Nearly all of the openings for the top paying occupation groups required education beyond high school and 63% of health care practitioners and technical occupation vacancies required previous experience and 95% of computer and mathematical openings. Only 2% of building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations and 3% of food preparation and serving occupations required education beyond high school. Employers looking to fill those positions were still looking for some previous experience, however.