Portland Nursing Jobs Have Most Openings

Fortunately for anyone looking for a career in healthcare, there are more Portland nursing jobs available than any other occupation.

During the spring of this year, employers in the Portland Tri-County area had about 8,575 available jobs, according to the Oregon Employment Department's Job Vacancy Survey. Of those vacancies, one-tenth were left unfilled for at least two months.

The 25 occupations with the most job openings represented only 42 percent of all job vacancies in the Portland area, which means an array of other occupations beyond those 25 also were left unfilled.

Overall, healthcare and social assistance, educational services and retail trade accounted for the most job openings. The four industries combined represented 61 percent of all job openings in the Portland area.

Registered nurses had 451 job openings, accounting for 5 percent of all vacancies in the Portland area, making it the most in-demand job. That was followed by personal and home care aides with 235 openings and retail salespersons with 224 openings, each of which accounted for 3 percent of all vacancies in the area.

Among all other occupations, no single occupation represented more than 2 percent of the total job vacancies. About one-tenth of all job openings remained unfilled for at least 60 days. Occupations in personal care, social services, education, architecture and engineering and healthcare had the highest rates of long-term vacancy.

As further proof that Portland nursing jobs are thriving, the area's healthcare industry has continued to add jobs on a monthly and yearly basis, despite the current state of the economy.

The Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton area's education and health services area employed 134,100 workers during September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 129,200 workers during August and a 1 percent increase from last year.