WorkSource Lincoln

05/28/2026

***Come and meet a School Bus Driver to learn about the opportunities with Lincoln County School District and how to apply!!!!!. A Representative will be at WorkSource Newport, 120 NE Avery St, Newport, (10:00 AM - 12:00 PM) June 2, 2026 ONLY***

MULTIPLE POSITIONS AVAILABLE!!!!!!!

Employer is the largest school transportation provider in North America, with over a century of experience in safe and reliable transportation. We serve 1,250 school districts in 39 states and 8 Canadian provinces, transporting approximately five million students daily to 21,000 schools.
REQUIREMENTS:

-Strong verbal communication skills
-At least 21 years old
-Valid driver's license for a minimum of 3 years
-Must pass a drug screen and physical exam
-Subject to DOT drug testing regulations (49 CFR Part 40), which do not permit the use of Schedule I drugs, including ma*****na.

HOURS:

-Part time

PAY AND BENEFITS:

-Competitive Starting Wage: $23.12 - $27.91 per hour (depending on experience)
-Sign-On Bonus: $2500.00 - $3500.00
-Completion Pay: During training
-Comprehensive Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, and 401k Retirement Savings Plans (benefits may vary by location)

DUTIES:

Safety First: Join our team of professional drivers dedicated to safely transporting students to and from school.
Supportive Technology: Utilize our industry-leading technology to navigate daily routes.
Vehicle Maintenance: Conduct pre and post-trip vehicle inspections.
Student Assistance: Help students with boarding and exiting the bus.

05/08/2026

Apply NOW!

Summer of 2026!

The Toledo Pool is HIRING!
Looking for part-time employment? Or a great summer job?
Being a lifeguard or Swim Lesson Instructor might be just the thing!!
Ages 16 and Above – Including Adults of all ages
FREE* American Red Cross Certification Training
Call: 541-336-3181 or stop in for an application at:
174 NW 7th Street, Toledo 97391

05/06/2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 5, 2026 CONTACT INFORMATION:
Shaun Barrick, Regional Economist
[email protected]
(541) 435-8569
Employment in Lincoln County: March 2026
Seasonally adjusted payroll employment decreased by 20 in March
Lincoln County’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.9% in March, down from 6.0% in
February. It was up from 5.3% the year before. The statewide unemployment rate was 5.2% in March,
and the national rate was 4.3%.
Seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment decreased in March by 20 to 18,340 jobs. Seasonally
adjusted figures compare expected changes with actual changes. A gain of 170 jobs was expected for
the month, and the county’s total nonfarm employment increased by 150, with a gain of 150 jobs in the
private sector and no change in total government employment. Leisure and hospitality added 130 jobs
(+3.0%). Local education lost 20 jobs (-1.9%).
March’s total nonfarm employment numbers were down 280 jobs over the year, a decrease of 1.5%.
The largest gain occurred in food manufacturing, which rose by 70 jobs over the year in March
(+43.8%). Professional and business services lost 120 jobs (-12.2%). Local government excluding tribal
and education added 50 jobs (+3.7%).
Next News Releases
The Oregon Employment Department plans to release the April statewide unemployment rate and
employment survey data on Wednesday, May 20, and April county and metropolitan area
unemployment and jobs data on Wednesday, May 27.
The pdf version of the news release, including tables and graphs, can be found at www.qualityinfo.org/pressrelease/. To obtain the data in other formats such as in Excel, visit QualityInfo.org, select Tools, and choose LAUS
or CES from the dropdown menu. To request the press release as a Word document, contact the person shown
at the top of this press release.
You can subscribe to receive notification of new articles and publications from QualityInfo.org. To subscribe, go
to www.qualityinfo.org/subscribe, enter your email address and click Sign In. In the Publication section, click
on the + sign next to a report type category and then click on the geography(s) you are interested in. Take some
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notification for. You can receive notifications on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule – whichever is most
convenient for you. You can change your preferences – or unsubscribe – at any time.
For help finding jobs and training resources, visit one of the state's WorkSource Oregon Centers or go to:
www.WorkSourceOregon.org.
The Oregon Employment Department (OED) is an equal opportunity agency. Everyone has a right to use OED
programs and services. OED provides free help. Some examples are: Sign language and spoken language
interpreters, written materials in other languages, braille, large print, audio and other formats. If you need
help, please call 971-673-6400. TTY users call 711. You can also ask for help at
[email protected].
El Departamento de Empleo de Oregon (OED) es una agencia de igualdad de oportunidades. El OED
proporciona ayuda gratuita para que usted pueda utilizar nuestros servicios. Algunos ejemplos son
intérpretes de lengua de señas e idiomas hablados, materiales escritos en otros idiomas, letra grande, audio y
otros formatos. Para obtener ayuda, por favor llame al 503-947-1444. Usuarios de TTY pueden llamar al 711.

At WorkSource Oregon, we help people find jobs and businesses find talent.

05/06/2026

Oregon’s Unemployment Rate and Jobs Numbers – Two Measures of the Labor Market
by Tracy Morrissette
May 05, 2026

Each month, the Oregon Employment Department releases a report on Oregon’s labor market containing two widely monitored indicators – the unemployment rate and total nonfarm payroll employment (the number of jobs). Although these two economic indicators are published together in the same press release, at times they report conflicting messages about the health of Oregon’s labor market. For example, both the unemployment rate and the jobs numbers may decline in the same month. This will prompt questions such as “how can unemployment decline when there are fewer jobs available?” This article examines the relationship between total nonfarm payroll employment and the unemployment rate, identifying the source of each indicator and exploring reasons why conflicting messages may show up in month-to-month changes in these data series.

The unemployment rate is produced by the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program and total nonfarm payroll employment is produced each month by the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. These programs are part of the Federal-State cooperative between State agencies and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Job Numbers and the Unemployment Rate Are Based on Separate Surveys

The primary reason that the jobs numbers (total nonfarm payroll employment) and the unemployment rate do not always agree in their respective month-to-month changes is that they are developed from two separate surveys that serve different purposes. These separate surveys gather information from different sections of the economy; the jobs numbers are based on a survey of businesses and the unemployment rate is developed from a survey of households. In addition to a difference in universe, the two surveys differ in reference periods, definition of employment, sample sizes, and other methodologies

The jobs numbers are from the CES survey, which is also known as the establishment survey. This is a survey of nonagricultural employers (including government) designed to gather data on the employment, hours, and earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls. Workers are counted as employed if they worked or received pay during the pay period that includes the 12th day of the month. Pay periods vary by firm; some firms pay weekly, some biweekly, some semimonthly and some monthly. The CES survey is a count of jobs; workers with multiple jobs are counted in each establishment that reports them regardless if the duplication was related to job turnover or multiple job-holding. In Oregon, the CES program surveys roughly 2,350 businesses and government agencies each month, representing approximately 12,570 individual worksites.

The unemployment rate is a product of the LAUS program and is primarily based on the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is also known as the household survey. The CPS gathers information on the labor force activity of people during the week that contains the 12th day of the month who are in the civilian noninstitutional population (individuals aged 16 years and older who are neither in an institution nor on active duty in the armed forces). Individuals are classified as employed, unemployed, or not in the labor force based on their activities during the reference week. In Oregon, the CPS sample size is roughly 1,000 assigned households.

The primary purpose of the CES survey is to estimate a count of jobs on the payrolls at business establishments each month; whereas, the primary purpose of the LAUS program is to estimate an unemployment rate each month. Each survey is designed around these different purposes.

LAUS and CES Programs use Different Concepts of Employment

Both the LAUS and CES programs develop an estimate of employment for Oregon. These two measures of employment do not always move in perfect tandem, since in addition to originating from different surveys, a different definition of employment is used in each survey. The primary reason for the differing behavior is that LAUS (household) employment is more broadly defined than CES employment. The household survey definition includes agriculture, self-employment and unpaid family workers – three groups excluded from the CES definition. The biggest factor in definitional differences is in the agriculture and self-employment groups. For Oregon in 2025, non-agricultural self-employment consisted of 7.0% of total household employment and agriculture accounted for 2.3% of total employment. Trends and changes in these two groups show up in LAUS employment, but are not reflected in CES employment as they are out-of-scope for that measure.

Another factor contributing to differing results is that LAUS counts people at their place of residence while CES counts jobs by location of firm. These differences have implications for how cross-state commuters are included in these data sets. In Oregon, this is important since a large population center in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro Metropolitan Statistical Area spans across the border into Washington. As the CPS is a household survey that captures statistics based on place of residence and the CES is an establishment survey that tallies job counts based on place of work, people who commute to jobs in or out of Oregon will be counted differently in the two surveys. An individual may be counted in one state for the purposes of LAUS/CPS and another state for the purposes of CES. For example, a person living in Vancouver and working in Portland is included in Oregon CES data but excluded from Oregon LAUS/CPS data.

In addition to those mentioned above, other differences include:

The CPS survey has an age minimum (age 16 and over) while the CES survey does not.
Employment and unemployment levels in CPS/LAUS are based on population controls from the Census Bureau. Employment levels in CES are based on benchmark levels set by job counts from the QCEW (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages) program.
The CPS and CES surveys use different data collection methods and have different sample sizes.
Workers on unpaid leave for the entire reference week are included in LAUS employment but are excluded from CES job counts if they were on leave for the entire reference pay period. CES job counts include only people who received pay for the reference pay period.
Workers on furlough are excluded from LAUS employment numbers if they were on furlough for the entire reference week (they are considered unemployed, on temporary layoff) but are included in CES job counts if they received pay for any portion of the reference pay period that includes the furlough.
Multiple jobholders are counted only once in LAUS employment numbers but are counted for each nonfarm payroll job in CES job counts.
LAUS and CES data have different seasonal patterns and use different seasonal adjustment methods.

LAUS and CES Data Initially Reported in 2026 Are Preliminary

The 2026 data published by the Oregon Employment Department and the BLS for all states during 2025 are preliminary. Initial 2026 LAUS estimates will be revised near the beginning of 2027 in an annual procedure often referred to as “benchmarking.” In LAUS, the annual revision process involves re-processing the initial time series model estimates using more complete input data and new population controls. In CES, the benchmark revision process involves calibrating the initial series with information from the QCEW program. QCEW, another Federal-State cooperative program, is a quarterly count of employment and wages based on employers who report to the Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs of the United States. QCEW is a more complete count of employment than the sample-based CES estimates.

Interpreting Month-to-Month Changes in LAUS and CES Data

Side-by-side comparisons of monthly changes in LAUS and CES data can show conflicting results at times. Both the LAUS and CES data sets are estimates developed from a sample of households and firms within a larger population. Sample-based estimation has important ramifications for the interpretation of LAUS and CES data, especially in drawing conclusions about what month-to-month changes mean in respect to Oregon’s economy. The “margin of error” often associated with sample-based estimates such as LAUS and CES data is an important indicator as to whether changes in numbers from month-to-month are significant in magnitude.

For LAUS data, standard errors are available for the estimated levels and changes. Standard errors can be converted into “margin of error” type estimates, such as error ranges and significance-of-change tests. Currently for Oregon, the 90% confidence interval around Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is plus-or-minus 0.7 percentage point. For changes in data between months, a one-month change in Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate would have to be plus-or-minus 0.3 percentage point or more to be significant at the 90% level and an over-the-year change would have to be beyond plus-or-minus around 0.5 percentage point to be statistically significant.Graph showing slight over the year decline in Oregon total nonfarm employmentFor Oregon’s CES total nonfarm payroll employment, the over-the-month change would need to be beyond plus-or-minus 7,100 jobs to be considered statistically significant at the 90-percent confidence level, and the over-the-year change would need to be beyond plus-or-minus 21,100 jobs.

What these “margin of error” type estimates communicate about the accuracy of the LAUS and CES data are the size of changes between months necessary to be “economically meaningful.” Monthly changes within the margin of error do not necessarily indicate that a turning point in the economy has occurred since changes of this size are not statistically significant, meaning they are fairly typical based on the historical monthly variation in the series. For this reason it could be said that small changes indicate that the data are “essentially unchanged” from the prior month. More informative is the behavior of the long-run trend in each series, which can be gathered from examination of seasonally adjusted data over longer periods of time.

Interpreting Long-Run Trends in LAUS and CES Data

During the housing and credit bubble in 2003 through 2007, the CES data showed a rapid and steady expansion of nonfarm jobs. Seasonally adjusted employment grew rapidly from 1,568,500 in June 2003 to 1,741,200 in December 2007. This was followed by a plunge in employment through February 2010. Since February 2010, employment generally trended higher until peaking in January 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the extreme lows of COVID-19 recession in 2020, total nonfarm payroll employment in Oregon peaked in September 2024 at 1,998,000 jobs. While month to month trends have varied, as of March 2026 Oregon nonfarm jobs totaled 1,962,400. This was a decline of 1.8%, or 35,600 jobs, from September 2024.Graph showing Oregon unemployment rate has risen over the past yearThe LAUS unemployment rate data also shows peaks and troughs over time. Prior to the Great Recession (2007-2009), Oregon’s unemployment reached a low of 5.0%, before steadily rising to a peak of 11.1% in May 2009. During the long expansion period of mid-2009 through early 2020, Oregon’s unemployment rate trended downward, before reaching a historical low of 3.4% from October 2019 through January 2020.

The COVID-19 Recession caused unemployment to spike to a record high of 13.7% in April 2020, before trending downward again through May 2023 (3.6%). Since then, Oregon’s unemployment rate has been slowly rising and reached 5.2% in May 2025, and has been either 5.2% or 5.3% since May 2025.

Conclusion

Although CES and LAUS data are sample-based estimates and month-to-month changes are not always statistically significant, these estimates do convey meaningful information about the state of the labor market in the long-run. Both LAUS and CES data series reflect changes in the business cycle, evident in the direction that each series trend over several months during economic expansions and contractions. Therefore, it is more useful to focus on the longer-run changes, or trends, in the LAUS and CES data than on the month-to-month changes, as longer-run changes reflect the influence of the business cycle on the labor market and month-to-month changes are more subject to noisy fluctuations. The “margin of error” estimates are useful to help interpret the significance of monthly changes.

More information about differences between household and establishment statistics for the U.S. can be found on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website.

04/28/2026

Knowledge is Power!

Winter 2026 Hiring Among Oregon’s Private Employers Remained Flat from Fall

April 23, 2026

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 45,300 vacancies in winter 2026. Vacancies decreased 2% from the fall and decreased 12% from winter 2025.

After reaching elevated levels of close to 100,000 job vacancies in spring 2021 through summer 2022 in the rapid hiring following pandemic re-openings, job vacancies across Oregon returned to pre-pandemic levels from 2023 to mid-2025. Winter 2026 levels were similar to levels seen prior to the pandemic in winter 2018 and 2019.

In January 2026, there were 6.6 million private-sector job openings in the United States, as measured by the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, and 7.9 million people were unemployed, resulting in a U.S. ratio of about 1.2 unemployed people per job opening. Over the past year and a half, the U.S. unemployed to job vacancy ratio has been around 1.0 or slightly higher.

There were 128,900 unemployed Oregonians in January 2026 and 45,300 job vacancies, leaving almost three 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.Graph showing Oregon's unemployed to job vacancy ratio has been rising faster than the U.S.Most Oregon openings in winter 2026 were for full-time, permanent positions. Education beyond high school was required for 40% of winter vacancies. Prior work experience was required for 60% of vacancies. Employers reported 46% of vacancies in winter 2026 as difficult to fill. This was only the second quarter since spring 2020 that fewer than 50% of vacancies were considered difficult to fill.

The average starting wage among this group of vacancies was $25.42 per hour, an inflation-adjusted decrease of 2% from winter 2025, and a 5% decrease from fall 2025. The number of vacancies offering a starting wage below $20 per hour decreased 26% over the year. The number of vacancies offering between $20 and $30 per hour decreased 14% over the year and vacancies paying above $30 per hour decreased 9%.

Oregon Private Job Vacancies, Winter 2026
Skip table
Vacancies 45,349
Average Hourly Wage $25.42
Full-time Positions 71.3%
Permanent Positions 93.1%
Requiring Education Beyond High School 40.1%
Requiring Previous Experience 60.3%
Difficult to Fill 45.7%

Source: Oregon Employment Department
Hiring demand existed throughout different industries and occupations, though it remained highly concentrated in the private health care and social assistance industry which represented 33% of all job vacancies. Management, administrative, and waste services and leisure and hospitality followed, with 5,200 and 4,400 job vacancies, respectively.

Oregon Private Job Vacancies by Industry, Winter 2026

Industry Vacancies
All Industries 45,349
Health care and social assistance 15,111
Management, administrative, and waste services 5,151
Leisure and hospitality 4,441
Other services 3,431
Professional, scientific, and technical services 3,241
Construction 2,637
Manufacturing 2,589
Retail trade 2,069
Private educational services 2,018
Natural resources and mining 1,987
Wholesale trade 1,076
Financial activities 982
Transportation, warehousing, and utilities 616

Source: Oregon Employment Department

Employers reported vacancies in over 200 different occupations in the winter. The occupation groups with the most vacancies in winter 2026 were health care support (6,700), health care practitioners and technical (4,900), and community and social service (4,500) occupations. Detailed occupations reported most frequently included personal care aides, nursing assistants, and customer service representatives.

Winter vacancies were distributed across the state. However, in winter 2026 job vacancies at private employers were highly concentrated in the Portland Tri-County area (Portland-Metro and Clackamas County, combined). This area represented over half (51%) of all job vacancies across the state.

Map showing job vacancies in regions across Oregon. More details about Oregon Job Vacancies are available on QualityInfo.org, on the publications page under Job Vacancy Survey.

Winter 2024 Hiring Among Oregon’s Private Employers Anna Johnson Apr 25 Each quarter, the Oregon Employment Department surveys private employers from all industries and areas of the state to ask about the job vacancies th...

04/24/2026

The Jobs Most Likely to Be Affected by Artificial Intelligence in Oregon
by Sarah Cunningham
April 23, 2026

The potential labor market impacts of emerging artificial intelligence technologies have been studied by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Employment Projections program assessed current evidence to determine whether enough is known to support a conclusion about the direction and magnitude of the technology’s future impact on the labor market. Findings were incorporated into BLS industry and occupational projections.

In Oregon, the BLS’ research on the potential labor market impacts of AI are incorporated into Oregon’s 2024-2034 long-term industry and occupational projections. This article unpacks the industries and occupations expected to experience employment demand increases, decreases, and offsetting effects due to AI development and adoption.

Artificial Intelligence – A Rapidly Evolving Technology

Artificial intelligence is defined in Merriam Webster as the capability of computer systems or algorithms to imitate intelligent behavior. While working AI technologies have existed since the early 1950s, the invention of Transformer technology in 2017 led to new types of large language models (LLMs) and generative AI (GenAI) such as Open AI’s Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT1).

Public access to these tools became available in 2022 and sparked conversations about the potential of AI technologies to increase productivity, allowing more work to be performed by the same number or fewer people, transforming how we live and work. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the U.S. economy has expanded throughout many periods of technological progress such as electrification, the adoption of the internal combustion engine, and computerization of the workforce—all of which increased productivity and living standards. These changes were viewed as at least as important as AI is today.

Assumptions, Limitations, and Incorporating Expected Change

Oregon’s long-term industry and occupational employment projections incorporate the BLS’ assumption that the pace of structural change in the economy will follow its historical pattern of occurring gradually, with job displacement due to technological change taking longer than technologists expect. Oregon’s long-term employment projections follow BLS methodology which “connects the potential employment impacts of a new technology with data trends” to “determine whether these impacts are likely to diminish as the benefits of the technology are fully realized.”

It can take time for employers and workers to learn how to incorporate new technologies into business practices. New technologies may also alter the types of tasks performed in an occupation even if they do not impact demand for employment. Future governmental policies such as regulation and funding may also affect employment patterns. However, employment projections for the U.S. and Oregon are based on current law.

In cases where the direction and magnitude of expected change are clear, these changes are integrated into national projections through mechanisms such as change factors for detailed occupations within industries, which are applied to Oregon’s occupational employment projections. As productivity gains from AI technologies translate to employment impacts in Oregon, these impacts are captured in the industry data which directly influence employment projections. For cases where employment may not currently be impacted, research-based judgement may be used and is typically applied conservatively.

As Oregon’s employment projections are updated annually, information that helps clarify the impacts of AI technologies will be incorporated into future projections data. The following sections will look at select industries and occupations in Oregon where employment is expected to be impacted due to the development and adoption of AI technologies from 2024 to 2034.

Industry and Occupational Employment Impacts

Oregon’s total employment is projected to grow by 6% (+140,600 jobs) between 2024 and 2034, reflecting modest job growth in the economy. AI technologies have the potential to increase or decrease employment demand. Industries and occupations associated with the development, implementation, and underlying infrastructure of AI technologies are largely expected to see employment demand increases and relatively fast growth from 2024 to 2034 in Oregon. Occupations whose core tasks can be most easily replicated by GenAI in its current form are more likely to experience limited employment demand, relatively slower growth, or employment declines over the coming decade. These impacts may also be offset by other factors such as strong underlying demand driven by factors such as demographics.

Professional and Technical Services

Management, scientific, and technical consulting services and scientific research and development within the professional and technical service industry are both expected to experience an increase in employment demand due to the development and business adoption of new AI technologies over the decade from 2024 to 2034. The scientific research and development industry is where much of the development of new technologies takes place. Oregon’s scientific research and development industry is projected to add roughly 1,200 jobs over the decade and grow by 19%, more than three times the projected rate for Oregon’s employment as a whole (6%).

Management, scientific, and technical consulting services is expected to grow rapidly over the decade in Oregon, growing from roughly 20,700 jobs in 2024 to 26,200 jobs by 2034 (+27%). According to the BLS, employers are expected to turn to Information Technology (IT) consulting firms to learn how to incorporate AI technologies into their business practices and answer questions such as which functions to automate, how much to invest in AI, and which platforms provide the most benefit. Computer systems design and related services is also expected to experience faster than average growth (10% statewide or +1,700 jobs), in part due to strong demand for AI-based systems.

Workers in architecture, engineering, and related industries, are likely to become more productive, as GenAI can support many tasks involved in architecture and engineering occupations. However, the BLS assesses that “the unique technical expertise of [these workers] and existing regulatory requirements create uncertainty about the extent and employment impact of AI adoption.” For this reason, demand for workers in this industry is expected to remain strong in Oregon from 2024 to 2034 at 22% growth (+4,400 jobs).

Finance and Insurance

In recent years, the insurance industry has deployed drones to take photos of sites, limiting the need to send human examiners to the field. Going forward, insurers are expected to use AI technologies alongside drone technologies to further boost productivity. These productivity gains are expected to limit employment demand in the insurance carriers and related activities industry, which is projected to decline by 200 jobs or 1% from 2024 to 2034 in Oregon. This industry accounted for nearly half (47%) of employment in the finance and insurance sector in 2024, contributing to projected employment declines in the broad sector over the decade (-1,500 jobs or -3%).

AI technologies, specifically robo-advisors, are expected to have a small impact on the employment of personal financial advisors, the largest occupation within the securities, commodity contracts, and other financial investments industry. While robo-advisors provide an alternative to human advisors, the BLS finds that “older clients with sophisticated financial planning needs are unlikely to trust automated recommendations.” Statewide growth in this occupation is expected to be about as fast as for all occupations over the decade at 7%.

Information Technology and Computer and Mathematical Occupations

While Oregon’s information sector is expected to grow at roughly the all industry average rate (7% vs 6%) over the next decade, software publishers and data processing, web hosting and related services industries are expected to see more rapid growth from 2024 to 2034. These two industries are projected to experience employment growth due to the strong and growing demand for IT products and services, such as custom software, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and AI-based systems. Software publishers are expected to grow by 12% over the decade, adding 1,600 jobs statewide. Increased use of AI tools, which often run on cloud-based infrastructure, increase the demand for data centers that offer data storage, management, and computing power. As such, employment in the data processing, web hosting, and related services industry is projected to increase by 16% and add nearly 1,300 jobs statewide by 2034. Additionally, employment in Oregon’s utilities sector is projected to increase by 12% (+600 jobs), in part to accommodate the increasing energy demands associated with data centers.

The information sector has a high concentration of computer and mathematical occupations, many of which are expected to be impacted by AI tools. Developing, implementing, and leveraging these technologies will require expertise from workers in occupations such as data scientists (+33% growth or +900 jobs from 2024 to 2034), computer and information research analysts (+17% or 100 jobs), and software developers (+14% or 3,000 jobs).

AI tools are expected to increase the volume of data that is generated and can be processed. This is expected to increase demand for workers in occupations that can analyze data to inform decision making such as data scientists (+33%), actuaries (+16%), and operations research analysts (+22%).

Other Industries and Occupations

Workers in arts, design, media, and communication occupations perform tasks that have a high potential to be automated or streamlined by AI and are expected to see employment demand limited by these productivity increases from 2024 to 2034. These occupations include graphic designers (+5% growth statewide), interpreters and translators (+3%), and technical writers (+1%).

Several health care occupations (+13%) are also expected to be affected by AI, although strong underlying demand for health care services, driven primarily by the aging of Oregon’s population, will offset some of these effects. Medical coding and billings processes are expected to be streamlined using AI tools, somewhat limiting demand for medical secretaries and administrative assistants (+10% growth) and medical records specialists (+11%). Radiologists are incorporating AI into diagnostic systems, increasing productivity; however, strong underlying demand is expected to increase employment in the occupation by 10% over the decade. Medical transcriptionists (+3%) are expected to grow slower than average in Oregon due to technologies that can recognize speech and transcribe audio.

A number of sales occupations (+1%) are expected to see their employment demand limited due to AI technologies, as these systems can quickly summarize and analyze sales calls, generate leads, draft emails and proposals among other tasks. Sales engineers (+8%), insurance sales agents (-1%), and other types of sales representatives (+5%) are expected to see reduced employment demands due to productivity increases from AI.

Automation technologies, such as automated phone systems and virtual assistants, have been impacting the job outlook for administrative support occupations (-1%) prior to emerging AI technologies. Efficiency gains from integrating AI technologies are expected to further reduce employment demand for occupations such as procurement clerks (-6%); credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks (-11%); customer service representatives (-6%); and nonmedical secretaries and administrative assistants (-1%).

Within the legal services industry, paralegals and legal assistants’ (-3%) work may be streamlined by custom-made AI tools to assist with reviewing contracts, the discovery process, and conducting research.
Digital tutors within the education services industry can use AI and LLM technology to teach and answer student questions, putting downward pressure on demand for tutors (+10%) over the decade. However, relatively fast projected growth in Oregon’s private education industry (+9%) is expected to increase demand for this occupation statewide.

Conclusion

Productivity gains from new technologies are associated with job creation and job destruction. The continued development of AI technologies is expected to increase efficiency in many occupations, reducing demand for employment. At the same time, some of these impacts will be offset by increased demand for workers in industries and occupations that develop, utilize, and help implement these tools and their underlying infrastructure or have other underlying drivers of demand. Entirely new occupations may be created as a result of technological advancements. Research on the impacts of these emerging technologies is ongoing and will be incorporated into future 10-year employment projections for Oregon.

Oregon Employment Projections for Select Artificial Intelligence Related Occupations, 2024-2034
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Occupation Title 2024 Employment 2034 Employment % Change Employment Change
Total, All 2,196,147 2,336,540 6.4% 140,393
Business and Financial Operations 140,615 152,264 8.3% 11,649
Claims Adjusters, Examiners, and Investigators 2,835 2,631 -7.2% -204
Computer and Mathematical 63,361 69,492 9.7% 6,131
Computer and Information Research Scientists 662 777 17.4% 115
Software Developers 21,353 24,364 14.1% 3,011
Actuaries 185 214 15.7% 29
Operations Research Analysts 2,624 3,195 21.8% 571
Data Scientists 2,755 3,650 32.5% 895
Architecture and Engineering 44,064 48,432 9.9% 4,368
Legal 15,933 16,097 1.0% 164
Paralegals and Legal Assistants 4,930 4,804 -2.6% -126
Educational Instruction and Library 127,210 131,057 3.0% 3,847
Tutors 1,357 1,488 9.7% 131
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 38,811 41,592 7.2% 2,781
Special Effects Artists and Animators 1,252 1,347 7.6% 95
Graphic Designers 3,651 3,835 5.0% 184
Technical Writers 645 654 1.4% 9
Interpreters and Translators 1,653 1,704 3.1% 51
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical 124,906 139,946 12.0% 15,040
Radiologists 163 180 10.4% 17
Medical Records Specialists 2,755 3,059 11.0% 304
Healthcare Support 92,420 106,392 15.1% 13,972
Medical Transcriptionists 716 734 2.5% 18
Sales and Related 184,571 185,405 0.5% 834
Insurance Sales Agents 5,333 5,268 -1.2% -65
Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel 11,075 11,647 5.2% 572
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products 3,243 3,307 2.0% 64
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products 15,342 15,775 2.8% 433
Office and Administrative Support 230,625 227,713 -1.3% -2,912
Procurement Clerks 567 534 -5.8% -33
Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks 244 218 -10.7% -26
Customer Service Representatives 23,153 21,828 -5.7% -1,325
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants 6,608 6,297 -4.7% -311
Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants 908 847 -6.7% -61
Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants 16,445 18,148 10.4% 1,703
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive 23,902 23,588 -1.3% -314

Source: Oregon Employment Department, Employment Projections
Note: All data include self-employment
For more information on how AI impacts have been incorporated into national employment projections, read the following articles from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Incorporating AI impacts in BLS employment projections: occupational case studies and Industry and occupational employment projections overview and highlights, 2024–34.