Anyone thinking of leaving Portland????/ (Pendleton, La Grande: sales, health insurance, violent crime)

[Bluesbabe]

Check this out: Best Places to Live: Compare the Best Cities & Small Towns for You!

You answer a bunch of questions and then it asks for your address and etc. But a lot of people use this, and one gal in another forum wrote that she simply typed in a fake address.

[Jimrob1]

Originally Posted by Stuck in South

...I saw and met plenty of people of varying ages. You sure it's not a matter of perspective?

No its a matter of living here versus visiting in July.

[bliss60]

You are very right!

[Stuck in South]

...I'll tell my nearing-middle-age friends who have lived in Portland for a few years, relocating from various areas of the nation, that all the older people they know there are a figment of their imagination.

My father spent a good portion of his fifties trying to find new jobs because, as he claimed, "no one wants to hire someone my age." But that wasn't in Portland or Oregon or the PNW for that matter but in Alabama where he has been networked for decades.

My mother went through the same thing for a couple of years in her early 60s...in Florida where the median age is highly skewed in her favor.

I think what you mention is likely the case in a good deal of the nation as the Baby Boomers age. The face of American economics is shifting rapidly as the years go by. Between outsourcing and technology, jobs are getting harder to come by everywhere.

[oldtintype]

My mother went through the same thing in the SF Bay Area as did the husband of her friend. I don't think it's specific to Portland either.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by SeattlitefromNC

It's all perspective until you try to get a job.

Unfair but (generally) true: many employers view older workers as more expensive ... especially in light of health care costs.

In markets where jobs are more scarce -- Portland would definitely count as one of those -- employers tend to be more discriminating and tend to pick people, regardless of the EEOC guidelines. Younger workers tend to get picked first, as they tend not to opt in to health care (or, they don't use it as often as older workers).

You make some good points. I think the health care issue is a big factor. It's funny because I work in a large company that hires many people. There are many middle aged workers who have grown old there because they have worked there 20 or more years. The interesting thing is that the older people tend to come to work no matter what whereas the younger ones stay home for the slightest health problems.

The younger women are constantly taking time off to have babies and then more time off to take care of them. My company is very generous towards young parents. But it's the older folks who pick up the slack. Still employers do not seem to take these things into consideration. In any case I am hoping some day for a Universal health care plan so that health care will not be an issue for employers.

After all is said and done, it's the older people in my department and those around me who are the most reliable. Maybe it's because we feel we have the most to lose.

I know age discrimination is prevalent in many other places but I think the think the issue here in Portland is that there are so many new young people moving here everyday that the youth competition is stronger here than other some areas.

When you look at the successful new businesses that have sprung up in the past 10 or so years, they are mostly geared towards younger people. That makes sense since it would appear that the large majority of people here are young 20 or 30 somethings.

[oldtintype]

In terms of the comment about younger women taking time off to have babies and take care of them and the employer being generous...they don't have a choice. FMLA and OFLA are pretty clear about time off for things like giving birth (or for any medical thing actually) and they have to abide by the federal and state laws. The guidelines give parents quite a bit of time off and if the employer doesn't respect that they'll be sued. On the flip side, I took OFLA to help my mother when she got knee replacements and had to leave everyone in a lurch for weeks, but that's exactly what the law is for--to help people take care of their families young or old.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

In terms of the comment about younger women taking time off to have babies and take care of them and the employer being generous...they don't have a choice. FMLA and OFLA are pretty clear about time off for things like giving birth (or for any medical thing actually) and they have to abide by the federal and state laws. The guidelines give parents quite a bit of time off and if the employer doesn't respect that they'll be sued. On the flip side, I took OFLA to help my mother when she got knee replacements and had to leave everyone in a lurch for weeks, but that's exactly what the law is for--to help people take care of their families young or old.

I am protected under FMLA because I have a chronic illness for which in the past I had to take a lot of sick time, as much as my employer (not the one I have today) would have given anything to boot me but couldn't. So I do know a bit about the subject.

I am talking about above and beyond FMLA and OFLA. My employer will allow donated vacation time, job sharing, part time (mothers only) and job sharing (again mothers only). If a mother needs to leave early to pick up her child from day care she is free to go and does not always have to make up the time. If she must take off to take care of a sick child, she is allowed to either make up the time or use vacation or sick time. They will also hire a woman knowing she is pregnant at the time of hiring; something that many employers will not do even though it's technically discriminatory.

To me these things are very generous because none of my previous employers ever allowed such flexibility to mothers above what the law said they had to do.

[want to move somewhere]

Originally Posted by nancy thereader

the people are snobby, not to mention not enuff people know English. Some don't beleive me .

I have never been to Portland so I can't say for sure ( I am planning to move there in the spring ) , but I can not believe that not enough people know English here.....nor can I imagine that the people are "snobby".

90 something % of the people in this state are white so how can not enough people speak english. I guess there are more hispanic people that any other non-white race but thats not saying much..

I am moving out of portland next month - been here most of my life and don't like it to much, moving to Kansas city hopefully will be better

[newlywednj]

Originally Posted by DestinationSeattle

Yeah, it's all about perspective. I can appreciate the complaints about cost of living and such, but I can guarantee you that it's always worse somewhere else. My wife and I moved to the metro D.C. area a few years ago (I took a job out here), and it's been bleeding us dry. We've fallen farther in debt, and the housing market is insane -- even the smallest, most modest houses out here go for $300-$400K.

We've run the cost-of-living calculator and found that while there are cheaper places out there than Portland, we can still live in the Portland area on about $35,000 less per year. Plus, I'm looking forward to the cool, rainy weather, and my wife is a big environmentalist. So we're certainly excited, and we're on track to move in the spring of '09. We're sure it's not perfect out there, but it's gotta be better than what we have now ... uptight ladder-climbers, horrible traffic pretty much around the clock, and astronomical real estate. No, thanks.

I moved from the Northern VA area to Northern NJ and I had thought real estate was nuts in VA...it has nothing on NJ. Needless to say, the hubby and I are looking for a change in lifestyle, trying to get out of the rat race and move to somewhere relatively quiet and afordable and think Portland may be a good fit for us!