Summer 2025 Hiring Among Oregon’s Private Employers

October 23, 2025

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. Oregon businesses reported 53,600 vacancies in summer 2025. Vacancies increased 5% from the spring and decreased 12% from summer 2024. Summer 2025 had the lowest number of summer job vacancies since 2020. Prior to that, the lowest number of job vacancies in a summer panel was in 2015.

As of July 2025, there were 6.9 million private-sector job openings in the United States, as measured by the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, and 7.8 million people were unemployed, resulting in a U.S. ratio of about 1.1 unemployed people per job opening. This is the first quarter the U.S. ratio has exceed 1.0 since January 2021. 

There were 120,300 unemployed Oregonians in July 2025 and 53,600 job vacancies, leaving roughly 2.2 unemployed persons for every job opening. As job vacancies in Oregon have fallen since the record high peaks and unemployment has been rising, Oregon’s unemployed-to-job vacancy ratio has been increasing.

Most Oregon openings in summer 2025 were for full-time, permanent positions. Education beyond high school was required for 37% of summer vacancies. Prior work experience was required for 62% of vacancies, up from 53% in summer 2024. Employers reported a majority of their vacancies as difficult to fill, accounting for 57% of vacancies in summer 2025.

The average starting wage among this group of vacancies was $26.76 per hour, an inflation-adjusted increase of 2% from summer 2024, and 6% decrease from spring 2025. The number of vacancies offering a starting wage below $20 per hour decreased 16% over the year. The number of vacancies offering between $20 and $30 per hour increased 5% over the year and vacancies paying above $30 per hour increased 15%.

Hiring demand existed throughout different industries and occupations, though it was concentrated in the private health care and social assistance industry. Thirteen out of 14 major sectors were hiring for more than 1,000 positions at any given time in summer 2025. Health care and social assistance represented more than one-fifth (23%) of all summer vacancies, with 12,500 vacancies. The retail trade and construction industries followed with 6,100 and 6,000 job vacancies, respectively.

Employers reported vacancies in about 200 different occupations in the summer. The occupation groups with the most vacancies in summer 2025 were health care support (5,800), transportation and material moving (5,800), and sales and related occupations (5,300). Detailed occupations reported most frequently included personal care aides, truck drivers, and retail salespersons.

Summer vacancies were distributed across the state, with the Portland Tri-County area (Portland-Metro and Clackamas County, combined) accounting for over one-third (38%). Over-the-year changes in vacancies varied across the state. Rogue Valley vacancies grew the fastest over the year (+80%) while Portland-Metro vacancies declined by 42%.

More details about Oregon Job Vacancies are available on QualityInfo.org, on the publications page under Job Vacancy Survey.