Oregon to See One-Third of Companies Hire Soon

The third Future Hiring Survey was released on Monday by the Oregon Employment Department. The survey was conducted in the fall and the responses show that 33 percent of companies are planning to hire workers within the next six months. The negative from the survey is that expectations and outlooks from employers have not improved since the survey was conducted one year ago.

Close to half, 46 percent, of the companies surveyed in the leisure and hospitality industry indicated plans for hiring employees, which was the highest percentage for any industry surveyed. The second and third industries to hit the list included natural resources and mining with 44 percent and then health care and social assistance with 40 percent.

The industries that exhibited the least amount of likeliness to hire within the next six months were construction, financial activities and other services. In each of these industries, less than 25 percent of companies plan said they are planning to hire employees within the next six months.

Across the state of Oregon, 19 percent of all employers are planning to hire employees within six months because of employee turnover. Also, nine percent are planning to hire employees because of normal seasonal hiring patterns, eight percent are planning to hire because of an expansion to their staff and three percent of employers are planning to hire in an effort to re-staff their company after losses of employees during the recession. There were some employers who responded to the survey saying they were planning to hire based on multiple reasons.

Close to one-third of employers are expecting hiring in the very near future while 11 percent expect that their staff levels will increase over the next six months. On the other hand, 14 percent of employers are expecting their staffs to shrink during that same time frame. Within the next six months, two-thirds of firms do not expect any change to occur to their current staff numbers.

The most likely employers to hire are located in the Central Oregon and Columbia Gorge regions of the state. Employers in Southern Oregon are the least likely to hire employees in the next six months.

Fifty-one percent of employers said that the general economy would prevent them from hiring new employees within the next six months while 37 percent of employers said that the recession scares them away from hiring new employees.

Close to 14 percent of employers said that issues such as high taxes, excessive regulations, and state budget cuts were reasons that would keep them from hiring employees in the next six months.

Close to 29 percent of employers who responded to the survey said that the seasonal nature of their company’s work or having an adequate staff will prevent them from hiring. Another reason for not hiring, selected by five percent of employers, was a lack of qualified applicants for the jobs available.