iE,?t ^ortlanh (Dbserucr
Page 4
Goingt0 Work
continued
from front
past decade.
Beyond gains from economic
growth, an additional 392,000 job
openings will be created by 2022 as
workers change occupations or
leave for other reasons, such as
retirement, officials said.
The 2012 to 2022 employment
projections reflect several ongoing
trends: continuing recovery from
the Great Recession, particularly for
the construction industry; a grow
ing health care sector, due in part to
an aging population; continuing
population growth; and the need
for replacement workers due to baby
boomer retirements.
The state's professional and busi
ness services sector - which con
sists of computer systems design
services, temporary employment
agencies, business support ser
vices, and other firms - is projected
to add the most jobs (47,000), fol
lowed by the health care industry
(45,000).
Oregon's construction industry,
continuing its recovery from mas
sive recession job losses, is pro
jected to grow at the fastest rate of
any industry (29 percent or 20,000
jobs).
Even with its relatively fast
grow th rate , the co n stru ctio n
B
i
■
I
’
s '*
industry's employment is not ex
pected to return to the level seen
prior to the Great Recession. Other
industries expected to fall short of
pre-recession employment levels by
2022 include manufacturing, finan
cial activities, and information.
Information - which includes
newspaper, directory, and book
publishers, as well as software pub
lishing and other firms - is forecast
to be the state's slowest-growing
industry (7 percent), followed by
state government (9 percent).
The federal government (-5 per
cent) is the only major industry sec
tor expected to shed jobs over the
decade
In an effort to raise awareness
and attract competent applicants
many employers are reporting they
have been raising the starting wages.
The average wage offered for a
job vacancy is 74 cents above last
year’s median at $16.05, employ
ment officials said.
In the latest reporting, the Port
land tri-county area had 19,000job
vacancies this year, more than half
of the statewide total.
This year also came with an in
crease in minimum wage, one that
saw about 150,000jobs paying $9.10
hourly, meaning on average, mini- T riM et o fficia ls re p o rte d a m ile s to n e w ith co n stru ctio n o f the P o rtla n d -M ilw a u k ie L ig h t R a il Lin e a n d
mum wage porkers can expect to its c re a tio n o f 1 0 ,0 0 0 jo b s s o fa r a n d a re c o rd $ 1 5 3 m illio n in co n tra cts to m inority, w om en a n d
take home $ 18,928 for 2014.
o th e r d is a d v a n ta g e d b u sin e ss firm s.
n o rth s
northeast
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11 am - 3pm by appointment (walk-ins welcome)
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A p ril 23, 2014
COVER
OREGON
C all us to d a y fo r an a p p o in tm e n t! 503-287-4932
Light Rail Project
Creates 10,000 Jobs
Record set for
business with
minority and other
disadvantaged
firms
The Portland-Milwaukie Light
Rail Transit Project has reached a
new jobs m ilestone by creating
10,298jobs, and providing a record
$153 million in contracts to Disad-
* vantaged Business Enterprise (DBE)
firms.
With the project now 76 percent
complete and since the beginning
of preliminary engineering in March
2009, the project has contracted with
507 firms, including 127 DBE firms;
created 5,108 direct jobs (3,847 on
site construction jobs and 1,261
professional and technical jobs);
and created 5,190 indirect and in
duced jobs, TriM et officials re
ported.
Indirect jobs include positions at
suppliers of materials for the project,
such as steel, concrete, wood, and
more. Induced jobs are jobs created
by the spending of project salaries
for items such as groceries, gas,
entertainment, etc.
“This construction project is cre
ating jobs and helping to support
the regional economy,” said Don
Blocher, TriMet capital projects ex
ecutive director. “W e’re expanding
and improving our transit system, at
the same time we ’ re contracting with
an unprecedented number of DBE
firms and purchasing materials from
local suppliers.”
The 7.3-m ile project is the
region’s sixth MAX construction
project to be built and extends from
the terminus o f the MAX Green and
Yellow lines at Portland State Uni
versity in downtown Portland to
South Waterfront, southeast Port
lan d , M ilw a u k ie and N orth
Clackamas County.
The line, expected to open in
Septem ber next year, will have 10
stations and the first o f its kind
m ulti-modal bridge that will carry
light rail, buses, bikes, pedestri
ans and a future Portland Street
car extension, but no private ve
hicles.
vh cnisr «iihdixe^ty m Tllf Portland Observer
t all 503-288-0013 ads<ÿ> porîkmdobsei x er.com