Episodes

  • Portland's Job Market: Recovery Challenges and Healthcare Opportunities in 2026

    Portland's Job Market: Recovery Challenges and Healthcare Opportunities in 2026
    Feb 20 2026
    Portland's job market faces structural challenges amid uneven recovery and national contrasts. According to the Portland Metro Chamber's 2026 State of the Economy report, the region lost 8,800 jobs in 2025, the fourth worst among U.S. metros, with employment contracting even as the national economy expanded. Multnomah County lags below 2020 levels, while Clark County reached 114% of pre-pandemic employment. The Oregon Employment Department and Bureau of Labor Statistics confirm broad-based declines in professional services, manufacturing, construction, and information sectors, offset by gains in health care, education, and government.

    Unemployment specifics for Portland remain elusive in recent data, though national figures dropped to 4.3% in January per Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, with U.S. hiring at 130,000 jobs that month amid a 2025 slowdown to 181,000 total additions. Major industries include health care and traded sectors like manufacturing, hit hard by export drops from $10 billion in late 2024 to $6.4 billion, per Chamber data. Key employers span tech, retail like New Seasons Market—which laid off 95 amid labor costs—and Intel, closing a Hillsboro facility and cutting 1,000 jobs as noted by Senator Merkley's office.

    Growing sectors center on health care and social services, where job vacancies persist despite an overall drop, according to The Lund Report. Trends show "job hugging," with 56% of workers staying put due to financial pressures, per a MetLife study in Portland Business Journal. Housing slowdowns—multi-family permits fell to 656 units in 2025—exacerbate affordability issues, tying into slower population growth reliant on international migration.

    Recent developments include union growth by 463,000 nationally in 2025 per BLS, with Oregon echoes, and AI-driven business investment boosting GDP nationally at 2.2% for 2025 per OPB and Commerce Department. No clear seasonal patterns emerge beyond typical Q4 vacancy dips in 2025; commuting trends are undocumented here. Government initiatives focus on green energy investments urged by Merkley to counter losses. The market evolves toward local-demand resilience amid outmigration easing but natural growth stalling at 3,400 net births in 2024.

    Key findings: Portland underperforms peers like Denver in job recovery and real estate, signaling need for housing and talent strategies; health care offers bright spots.

    Current openings: Registered Nurse at Legacy Health, Software Engineer at Nike in Beaverton, Customer Service Rep at Providence.

    Thank you for tuning in, listeners, and remember to subscribe. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease.ai.

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    3 mins
  • Portland's Job Market Faces Significant Challenges: A Critical Inflection Point

    Portland's Job Market Faces Significant Challenges: A Critical Inflection Point
    Feb 16 2026
    Portland's job market faces significant challenges, marking a major inflection point as employment contracts amid national growth. The Portland Metro Chamber's State of the Economy report notes the region lost 8,800 jobs in 2025, the fourth worst among U.S. metros, while Oregon overall shows 2.4 unemployed workers per job opening as of November 2025 per Oregon Business Report data. Unemployment specifics for Portland remain unavailable in recent sources, but state trends indicate strain with job vacancies down 14 percent since summer 2025.

    Major industries include utilities like Portland General Electric, a key employer serving much of Oregon, alongside tech, manufacturing, and services, though office sectors suffer from record 10.2 million square feet of vacant space in central city. Growing sectors appear limited, with hybrid work solidifying as a structural shift reducing downtown demand, but foot traffic rose 5.5 percent in 2025 to 32 million pedestrians, boosted by events and weekends nearing 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

    Recent developments highlight dire warnings from the Chamber, linking decline to policy cracks, slowed housing at 656 multifamily units, and exports dropping to $6.4 billion quarterly. Seasonal patterns show busiest summer foot traffic since pre-pandemic, with 11 of 12 months in 2025 outperforming 2024. Commuting trends favor hybrid models, diminishing full office returns. Government initiatives are scarce in data, though public-private partnerships aid safety and livability.

    Market evolution reflects stalled population growth reliant on migration, low real estate ranking, and fragile recovery gains. Data gaps persist on precise unemployment rates, full industry breakdowns, and rural job specifics beyond DMV staffing woes.

    Key findings underscore job losses, office vacancies, and urgent need for investment retention, housing, and jobs amid low confidence. Current openings include Insulation Technician at $18-20 hourly in high-demand trades per ZipRecruiter, plus general high-demand roles in Oregon trades and services.

    Thank you listeners for tuning in and please subscribe. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease.ai.

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    3 mins
  • Portland's Economic Reckoning: Navigating Job Losses and Competitiveness Challenges

    Portland's Economic Reckoning: Navigating Job Losses and Competitiveness Challenges
    Feb 13 2026
    # Portland Job Market Report

    The Portland metropolitan area faces significant economic headwinds as job losses and declining competitiveness threaten regional prosperity. According to the EcoNorthwest report released through the Portland Metro Chamber, the region shed 8,800 jobs in 2025, marking the fourth worst performance among U.S. metro areas. This contraction stands in stark contrast to national trends, where the economy added 130,000 jobs in January 2026 with unemployment falling to 4.3 percent.

    Employment recovery varies dramatically across the four-county Portland region. Multnomah County has recovered only 93.5 percent of pre-pandemic jobs and lost 6,000 positions over the past year. Washington County neared full recovery at nearly 100 percent, while Clackamas County exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 4 percent. Clark County in Washington state demonstrated the strongest growth, exceeding pre-pandemic employment by 14 percent, attributed to strategic land-use planning, lower tax rates, and available development land.

    Healthcare remains Portland's leading employment sector, accounting for 82,000 of the modest national job gains in January. Construction showed notable acceleration with 33,000 positions added nationally. However, Portland's major office sector faces structural decline with vacancy at historically high levels and leasing at record lows, reflecting lasting shifts toward remote and hybrid work arrangements.

    The broader economic landscape reveals troubling trends. Export value dropped from ten billion dollars in the third quarter of 2024 to 6.4 billion dollars currently. Multifamily housing permits fell to 656 units, the lowest since 2011, exacerbating affordability crises. Portland ranks 80th nationally in real estate attractiveness, with affordable housing declining despite persistent homelessness.

    Downtown foot traffic shows modest recovery, with 32 million pedestrians visiting in 2025, up 5.5 percent from 2024. Saturdays rebounded to nearly 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels, yet weekday commuting remains depressed due to vacant office space and reduced worker presence.

    Governor Tina Kotek's Prosperity Roadmap addresses these structural challenges through economic development initiatives. Key findings indicate Portland requires fundamental policy reforms regarding housing production, business competitiveness, and job creation to reverse economic decline.

    Thank you for tuning in. Please subscribe for ongoing economic updates. This has been a Quiet Please production. For more information, check out quietplease dot ai.

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    3 mins
  • Portland's Dynamic Job Market: Navigating Unemployment and Hiring Trends

    Portland's Dynamic Job Market: Navigating Unemployment and Hiring Trends
    Feb 9 2026
    I appreciate your request, but I need to clarify an important limitation: the search results provided contain very limited information specifically about Portland's current job market. Most results focus on police hiring discussions, education workforce changes in Oregon broadly, and unrelated press releases rather than comprehensive employment data for Portland.

    Based on what's available, I can only offer this partial picture: Portland currently faces a dynamic labor environment where younger workers are experiencing steeper unemployment rises than average workers, and job vacancies increasingly require prior experience—62 percent of spring 2025 openings demanded experience according to the Oregon Employment Department. Electrical assembly positions show surging demand for skilled professionals in the Portland area.

    However, I cannot responsibly provide the comprehensive report you've requested covering unemployment rates, major employers, seasonal patterns, commuting trends, and current job openings without access to actual Portland labor statistics, recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data, or current job boards. The search results lack this essential information.

    To deliver what you need—a factual report on Portland's employment landscape with recent data, industry breakdowns, and current openings—I would require access to sources like the Oregon Employment Department's latest reports, Portland metro area labor statistics, major regional employers' hiring announcements, and active job postings from platforms reflecting current opportunities.

    I want to provide listeners with accurate, substantive information rather than speculate about employment figures or trends. If you can provide search results containing Portland-specific labor data, unemployment statistics, employer information, or job market analysis, I'd be pleased to synthesize that into the concise, paragraph-based report you've outlined.

    Thank you for tuning in. Please subscribe for more detailed labor market analysis when complete data becomes available.

    This has been a quiet please production. For more, check out quiet please dot ai.

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    2 mins
  • Portland's Resilient Job Market: Opportunities Abound Amid National Challenges

    Portland's Resilient Job Market: Opportunities Abound Amid National Challenges
    Feb 6 2026
    Portland's job market remains robust amid national slowdowns, with over 47,800 openings listed on Indeed as of February 5, 2026. The employment landscape features a diverse mix of roles in customer service, healthcare, warehousing, and administrative support, driven by major employers like Amtrak, Oregon Health & Science University, and Legacy Health. According to AOL and Explore.com reports, unemployment hovers just under 3 percent, outperforming the national average despite U.S. job openings dropping to 6.5 million nationwide per the Labor Department. Key statistics show strong demand in tech, healthcare, and logistics, though data gaps exist on precise local unemployment due to limited recent Bureau of Labor Statistics releases amid federal disruptions.

    Trends indicate steady growth in growing sectors like wellness, including psilocybin services, and natural resources, with no pronounced seasonal patterns noted but potential holiday hiring spikes in retail. Commuting trends favor hybrid models, as seen in Urban Flood Safety postings, while major industries encompass manufacturing, education, and public services. Recent developments include a ratified contract for homeless services workers with 13 percent raises and a $21 minimum wage per Northwest Labor Press, alongside an OHSU research union strike threat on February 18 per Willamette Week. Government initiatives through the Department of Consumer and Business Services offer roles with salaries from $5,988 to $9,191 monthly. The market is evolving toward affordability, attracting relocators as Portland's cost of living draws comparisons to pricier metros.

    Key findings highlight a listener-friendly market with low unemployment and abundant entry-level opportunities, though national headwinds like layoffs could pressure growth. Current openings include Amtrak's Guaranteed Extraboard Customer Service Rep at $29.29 to $39.05 hourly in Portland, Meadow Medicine's part-time Psilocybin Service Center Representative from $30 hourly in Sellwood-Moreland, and OHSU's full-time Patient Access Representative at $22.57 to $30.57 hourly.

    Thank you for tuning in, listeners, and please subscribe for more updates. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease.ai.

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    3 mins
  • Portland's Evolving Job Market: Challenges, Policy Shifts, and Emerging Opportunities

    Portland's Evolving Job Market: Challenges, Policy Shifts, and Emerging Opportunities
    Feb 2 2026
    Portland's job market faces challenges amid recent layoffs and economic pressures, with Oregon's unemployment rate at 4.6 percent in March according to KATU news, the highest since August 2021, and climbing to 4.8 percent statewide by November 2025 per Inspector James reports. The employment landscape shows stagnation, as the Portland metro area lost about 14,000 jobs between May 2024 and May 2025, driven by major cuts at Nike's Beaverton headquarters, where 740 high-level positions including vice presidents vanished in 2024, and Intel slashed 2,392 Oregon jobs in July 2025, reducing its workforce from 23,000 to 18,000. Major industries include tech in the Silicon Forest, apparel via Nike, Oregon's sole Fortune 100 company employing over 14,000 at average salaries of $148,000, and health care, though Nike and Intel dominate headlines. Growing sectors remain elusive in available data, with gaps in current comprehensive statistics for 2026; trends point to declines in tech and manufacturing amid revenue drops at key firms like Nike, whose net income fell 44 percent in fiscal 2025.

    Recent developments feature Governor Tina Kotek's focus on job creation in the 2026 legislative session, per OPB, including House Bill 4084 to expedite permits for target industries, $40 million for industrial land prep, and an Oregon Prosperity Roadmap with a chief prosperity officer appointed in January 2026. Seasonal patterns show March rent and leasing upticks potentially boosting local demand per Portland Rental Property Manager insights, but no direct job seasonality data exists. Commuting trends favor walkable neighborhoods and public transit near amenities, influencing renter-workers. Government initiatives address budget gaps via up to 5 percent agency cuts while shielding schools, amid rising health care costs and a $297 million transportation shortfall. The market is evolving toward business-friendly reforms, with Republicans pushing affordability and Democrats balancing cuts and reserves; minimum wage rose to $16.30 in the Portland metro per Marca reports.

    Key findings highlight layoffs' ripple effects on local spending, tepid recovery signals, and policy shifts for growth, though data gaps limit precise 2026 forecasts beyond early-year indicators.

    Current openings include Manager of Competitive Intelligence at Amgen, Director of Full Stack Engineering at Fidelity, and Life Actuary on the Asset Liability Management Team at USAA.

    Thank you listeners for tuning in, and please remember to subscribe. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease.ai.

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    3 mins
  • Portland's Robust Job Market: Tech, Healthcare, and Retail Boom Amidst National Trends

    Portland's Robust Job Market: Tech, Healthcare, and Retail Boom Amidst National Trends
    Jan 30 2026
    Portland's job market remains robust amid a tightening national landscape, with Oregon businesses reporting 46,300 vacancies statewide in Fall 2025 according to QualityInfo.org's Quarterly Job Vacancies Snapshots, where average hourly wages hit $26.56 and 79 percent of positions are full-time and permanent. The employment landscape features strong demand in tech, healthcare, and services, bolstered by Portland's Silicon Forest cluster, which drives 10 percent fully remote roles per BenefitsPro census data—far above the national 6 percent average. Over 42,000 jobs are listed on Indeed as of late January 2026, spanning forklift operators, customer service, and retail.

    Key statistics show Oregon's vacancies steady at 46,265, but specific Portland unemployment rates are unavailable in recent data, creating a gap; regional trends indicate low rates around 2-3 percent based on similar markets. Major industries include technology with employers like Intel and Nike, healthcare via Portland General Electric and VA centers, and retail giants like Costco. Growing sectors encompass clean energy through Climate Jobs Oregon coalition per Oregon AFL-CIO, and sustainable tech. Recent developments feature plummeting remote postings nationally but Portland's resilience, plus union pushes for healthcare contracts. Seasonal patterns show steady vacancies without pronounced swings, while commuting trends favor hybrid models in tech hubs. Government initiatives like paid sick leave accrual for smaller firms starting January 2026 via Vensure updates support workers. The market has evolved toward skilled trades and digital roles since 2025 productivity surges reported by CoStar.

    Key findings highlight abundant opportunities in tech and services with competitive wages, though precise local unemployment data lags. Current openings include Woofer Dog Walker at $25 per hour part-time with Go Woofer, Customer Service Advisor at Portland General Electric paying $22.04 to $33.06 hourly hybrid in Tualatin, and Parts Warehouse Person at Pape' Kenworth offering $22 to $28 per hour full-time in Portland.

    Thank you listeners for tuning in and remember to subscribe. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease.ai.

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    3 mins
  • Portland's Jobscape: Balancing Growth and Headwinds in a Diverse Economy

    Portland's Jobscape: Balancing Growth and Headwinds in a Diverse Economy
    Jan 26 2026
    Portland's job market shows a mixed picture with rising unemployment and challenges amid a diverse economic base. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics as reported by LocalNews8 and the Washington Examiner, the unemployment rate reached 5.2 percent in late 2025, up from around 4 percent the prior year and higher than the national average of 4.4 percent, driven by layoffs in manufacturing and semiconductors like those at Intel facilities. Indeed lists over 44,000 job openings as of January 25, 2026, signaling steady demand despite slowdowns.

    The employment landscape features technology, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and apparel as major industries, with key employers including hospitals, semiconductor firms, Nike, and digital startups, per Randstad USA. Growing sectors remain software support, patient services, data management, and customer experience roles, bolstered by Portland's focus on innovation and sustainability. Recent developments include Intel's thousands of job cuts in 2025, contributing to a 0.7 percentage point unemployment rise from July 2024 to July 2025, as noted in Stacker Money, alongside broader U.S. layoff trends. Seasonal patterns show hospitality and manufacturing dips, while commuting trends lean hybrid with remote work debates, as a Portland CEO highlighted hidden costs of fully virtual setups in BizJournals.

    Government initiatives are limited in recent data, with gaps in specifics on workforce programs or incentives amid high taxes and business unfriendliness cited by the Tax Foundation. Market evolution reflects decline since 2020, with lagging recovery, population stagnation, and family outflows per Oregon employment economist Gail Krumenauer, though salary budgets hold at 3.4 percent growth for 2026 according to BizJournals.

    Key findings include resilient job volume in services but weakening manufacturing and high living costs hindering growth; data gaps exist on commuting stats and precise government aid.

    Current openings: General warehouse worker at $18 to $24 per hour via Randstad; forklift operator now hiring through Randstad; customer service advisor at Portland General Electric paying $22.04 to $33.06 hourly on Indeed.

    Thank you listeners for tuning in and remember to subscribe. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease.ai.

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    3 mins