Portland's New New Economy (Beaverton, Hillsboro: 2015, apartments, condos)

[aawest]

Interesting article in Willamette Weekly about Portland's economy. Portland's New New Economy

[oldtintype]

This is a two year old article!

[kelcat]

This seems to be a good thread to reintroduce something that I keep posting... the "high unemployment"/bad economy perception of Portland seems to be a leftover of what happened a few years ago and the meme of "Portland's economy is bad" just will not die and adjust to the current reality.

The June 2007 unemployment rate in the Portland Metro area (including Vancouver & Beaverton) is 4.8% (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

For comparison LA metro and Las Vegas Metro is 4.7%, Sacramento metro 5.2%, SF metro 4.4%, Seattle metro 4.2%. considering that those areas are considerably larger than Portland the actual numbers of unemployed in those major metro areas are probably larger than in Portland. The national rate is 4.6%.

For some economists a 5% unemployment rate is considered "full employment".

Oregon as a state, on the other hand, does tend to have much higher unemployment rates than other states but states with a more rural population tend to have higher unemployment figures than states with higher urban populations. Check out this link for economic news about Oregon.

[RxMarcus]

Even if its 2 years old its still an interesting read, as long as you realize that the circumstances had changed in 2 years and that the stats are no longer valid. It gives a good sense of the why so many people are moving to the city, and also some of its faults not related to the economy.

[oldtintype]

Originally Posted by RxMarcus

Even if its 2 years old its still an interesting read, as long as you realize that the circumstances had changed in 2 years and that the stats are no longer valid. It gives a good sense of the why so many people are moving to the city, and also some of its faults not related to the economy.

Yes, but it would be nice if when people are trying to downplay Portland if they would at least indicate that the article is not current. Two years ago unemployment and other things were very different. More companies ARE moving here and you wouldn't know it by that article. One example is Genentech (big bio-tech), which is currently building right now.

[cadgbd]

[url=http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2006/03/13/daily36.html?t=printable]Genentech picks Hillsboro - Portland Business Journal:[/url]

" Biotechnology giant Genentech has selected Hillsboro for the construction and development of a facility that will fill and package commercial drugs.

The expansion could bring as many as 300 new jobs to the area by 2015."

2015 is eight years away!

Intel only hires contractors, who can only work one year, then must wait six months to reapply. How can you cover a mortgage when the work is not steady.

Jobs are hard to get in Portland. Employers are picky and arrogant in Portland.

Even nursing jobs are only available to experienced nurses, newbies will have a hard time. The HR manager of a local hospital told me that.

People are moving to Portland in droves. The apartments are being converted to condos that sell for maybe $279,000 and up. People with money move to Portland, and also people with no money or job move here. The local Bank of America advertises home loans for zero down, zero everything, it is incredible!

To get a good job in Portland you must have very good qualifications. People with jobs just can't seem to understand that others are having difficulty. You only care about it if it happens to you.

I got a call from a staffing firm for a help-desk job that pays 10.75/hour. That is not enough to buy a condo for $279,000. It is barely enough to barely scrape by in the rapidly inflating economy.

If you plan to move to Portland, it would be very wise to have a job lined-up, or you might windup trapped in a slave wage job, unable to save enough to escape.

[Supernova7]

Originally Posted by cadgbd

Genentech picks Hillsboro - Portland Business Journal:

" Biotechnology giant Genentech has selected Hillsboro for the construction and development of a facility that will fill and package commercial drugs.

The expansion could bring as many as 300 new jobs to the area by 2015."

2015 is eight years away!

Intel only hires contractors, who can only work one year, then must wait six months to reapply. How can you cover a mortgage when the work is not steady.

Jobs are hard to get in Portland. Employers are picky and arrogant in Portland.

Even nursing jobs are only available to experienced nurses, newbies will have a hard time. The HR manager of a local hospital told me that.

People are moving to Portland in droves. The apartments are being converted to condos that sell for maybe $279,000 and up. People with money move to Portland, and also people with no money or job move here. The local Bank of America advertises home loans for zero down, zero everything, it is incredible!

To get a good job in Portland you must have very good qualifications. People with jobs just can't seem to understand that others are having difficulty. You only care about it if it happens to you.

I got a call from a staffing firm for a help-desk job that pays 10.75/hour. That is not enough to buy a condo for $279,000. It is barely enough to barely scrape by in the rapidly inflating economy.

If you plan to move to Portland, it would be very wise to have a job lined-up, or you might windup trapped in a slave wage job, unable to save enough to escape.

Thank you very much for such an informative post. I have been reading the same and it's a very sad situation. The only thing I didn't realize is that JOBS ARE THAT DIFFICULT TO COME BY. You say employers are picky and arrogant and that seems to be the talk of the town. Many people feel that Portland is a beautiful city (aesthetic wise) but the tone of the people is cold, arrogant and reserved. I guess that's why so many people are living on the streets and under bridges waiting for a warm bowl of soup. $10.75 hr? that's POVERTY right there. Maybe in Texas you can survive on that wage but that's about it. That actually happened to you recently? It sounds scary. I hear that Portland has a large percentage of educated people and could see where that would raise the bar and increase competition.

Tell me, how do the people who lack skills and education survive then in Portland? Are there safety nets in place if you lose your job? Large number of social service agenices to house/get you work?

Everyone is saying the unemployment is high, so now you have many people relocating to a city where the work is scarce, competition is high and the numbers keep increasing?

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by cadgbd

Intel only hires contractors, who can only work one year, then must wait six months to reapply. How can you cover a mortgage when the work is not steady.

Jobs are hard to get in Portland. Employers are picky and arrogant in Portland.

Even nursing jobs are only available to experienced nurses, newbies will have a hard time. The HR manager of a local hospital told me that.

People are moving to Portland in droves. The apartments are being converted to condos that sell for maybe $279,000 and up. People with money move to Portland, and also people with no money or job move here. The local Bank of America advertises home loans for zero down, zero everything, it is incredible!

To get a good job in Portland you must have very good qualifications. People with jobs just can't seem to understand that others are having difficulty. You only care about it if it happens to you.

I know at least 20 people personally who are full-time regular Intel employees, and probably 5 of them have been hired in the last 2-3 years. On the other hand, all of them are in engineering and management. Perhaps you mean some other level?

The "good qualifications to get a good job" thing is pretty universal. You can't get hired as a $90,000 a year engineer without actually being an engineer and having experience.

The median price for a house in Portland is about $280,000, so an apartment converted to a condo and selling for that must be a very upscale apartment or in a very desirable part of town.

The last time in which you could get a living-wage job without without direct experience and/or education was probably the mid-70s.

I do agree that hiring has slowed down quite a bit over the last 5 years, especially in my field, as companies continue to outsource engineering and manufacturing. This is a "go ahead, shoot yourself in the foot" move on the part of corporations, but it looks good in the short, quarterly profits, term.

[PeacePlease]

When I lived in San Jose, Ca.... in 95/96, homes were very expensive. A one bedroom apartment went for about $1000/month. I was getting paid by the hour. No kids though and got an ok apartment with a roommate for the entire time I was there. Almost everyone I knew had a roommate. This is how people get buy when they can't afford to pay for a home. Works well if you a new college grad. If you have kids, then you're pretty much stuck living in either a bad neighborhood or somewhere way out of town.

I know multiple people that telecommute. This is the new economy. Many folks I know work out of the bay area in CA, but live in some other state. 2-3 times a month they fly to the corporate office for meetings and such. I understand that not everyone can get a job like this one... but the point is that these things are possible and happen often and I believe is the reason you got people moving to Portland and are doing ok.

[oldtintype]

Originally Posted by cadgbd

Genentech picks Hillsboro - Portland Business Journal:

" Biotechnology giant Genentech has selected Hillsboro for the construction and development of a facility that will fill and package commercial drugs.

The expansion could bring as many as 300 new jobs to the area by 2015."

2015 is eight years away!

Again, it depends on what you read and quote. Try this: http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/17/news...tech/index.htm

It says it will be online in 2010, and the people I know who WORK for Genentech, who are applying for positions up here, are applying to begin work in 2009, with production one to two years later.

No, it's not right now, but you don't bring a big bio-tech company here and just stick them in a warehouse--they have to design/build a specific structure.

My point, whether it's in 2010 or later, is that businesses are moving here and more will continue, especially with the amount of highly educated people here.