What I Love, Hate, Like, Dislike about Portland Oregon (job market, camps)

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Then go ahead and show up with no job. Some of us are sick and tired of trying to tell the truth and being treated like we are lying. Just be sure that if you decide to go for the learning experience of being homeless, you don't ask me for money. I've got no more patience and nothing to give--I have family members who can't find work in Portland--who just left, actually, because of it.

But yeah, come on out.

This x 1000.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by DoctorRain

Thats a good point as well. Jobswise though, I think there are more positions open and well, the competition, its there but sometimes the stats are just numbers. You can be put ahead of the line if a manager likes you enough.

Come on out. I'm sure you'll find work in a couple of days or so despite those pesky stats. They don't mean a thing and have nothing to do with actual human beings.

[TDNY]

Originally Posted by United_Caps_Skins_Fan

The Tampa / St. Pete area is considerably larger than Portland,

Not really, the MSA (Metropolitan statistical area) is 2.7 million, compared to Portland's 2.2 million. They are ranked 19 and 23.

Table of United States Metropolitan Statistical Areas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, the Tampa-St Pete-Clearwater MSA has a unemployment rate of 12.6%. The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro MSA's is 10.1% . Both not so good, howver, Florida's economy was hugely based on construction and housing, so, IMO, will take a while to come back.

Table 1. Civilian labor force and unemployment by state and metropolitan area

Also, the labor force numbers in Portland continue to grow, as Tampa-St Pete's is shrinking. If the labor force was growing, as in Portland, the unemployment rate would be even higher.

[ccjarider]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

What are we supposed to do about them? They keep showing up. How is that Portland's fault?

Well - for one thing, start making life miserable for these folks.

For a city of it's size, Chicago has some panhandling but not a lot.

The Chicago cops put the troublesome guys on the metra commuter rail train out to the suburbs.

The suburbs don't want them, so they arrest them. The homeless don't like that too much - so they leave the area.

(Maybe they go to Portland I don't know. All I know is that dirty slobs sitting in the street are not tolerated too much around here.)

[Bluesmama]

I think the unemployment statistics are a bit higher than on paper. I know a few people, seeking work for years, who have had their unemployment benefits run out. These job-seekers are NOT included in the statistics.

[LeftCoastee]

Originally Posted by Bluesmama

I think the unemployment statistics are a bit higher than in actuality. I know a few people, seeking work for years, have had their unemployment benefits run out. These job-seekers are NOT included in the statistics.

Incorrect. This is a pet peeve of mine because I see this misinformation posted almost every day in different forums / comment sections on news reports. Unemployment statistics have absolutely NOTHING to do with unemployment benefits. If it was linked to unemployment benefits, it would be grossly understated.

Unemployment rates are determined via 60,000 monthly household surveys basically asking the question: Are you employable and actively looking for work? The most commonly reported unemployment rate is the U-3 number. This number does not include people who are discouraged and have stopped looking for work or those who have accepted temporary part-time work or otherwise underutilized. If you want those people included, look at the U-6 number. All of this information can be found on the government's Bureaur of Labor Statistics website.

But your point is accurate, the numbers are higher than what is in the news for the reasons I mentioned above. I don't really use the numbers in the news to determine how many of my fellow Oregonians are out of work, but its still a very valid way to determine how Portland and Oregon ranks in comparison to other metros/MSAs and states. We are bad and toward the bottom, but not the worst.

[Bluesmama]

"What surveys???" I've never been approached with those questions by anyone except for information requests for purchases and online info. If statistics are based on that then it sounds even more questionable to me. Heck, I often don't even give those questions an honest answer.

[Metlakatla]

OLMIS - How We Estimate Oregon’s Unemployment Rate

Let's start with who is included. A common misconception is that an individual must be receiving unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to be counted in the unemployment rate. That's not true. The number of unemployed is officially "all persons who were not employed during the week containing the 12th day of the month, but were available for work and had made specific efforts to find employment some time during the previous four weeks." This group includes more than just individuals who qualify for unemployment benefits. The unemployment rate also includes people who have:

Exhausted their UI benefits

Voluntarily quit their job

Started looking for a job after a period of not working

Recently graduated and have not found a job

Been self-employed but are now looking for a job

[khyron]

Originally Posted by Bluesmama

"What surveys???" I've never been approached with those questions...

That's not surprising, and not necessarily germane, unless you're deliberately changing the subject. You could live in a city with the population of Portland for many decades and not personally be surveyed, and still have very statistically significant survey data being collected all the time. This would remain true even if none of your friends mentioned being surveyed either. You have to remember that Portland has a wonderful small town feeling, but does have more than half a million people (in the city limits alone).

The commenter above did an excellent job of explaining how unemployment statistics are gathered and what they actually reflect.

[LeftCoastee]

Originally Posted by Bluesmama

"What surveys???" I've never been approached with those questions by anyone except for information requests for purchases and online info. If statistics are based on that then it sounds even more questionable to me. Heck, I often don't even give those questions an honest answer.

Did you answer honestly on the census? Its pretty much the same thing. As I mentioned, all the information is available on the BLS website.

All you could ever want to know about the surveys: BLS Handbook of Methods: Ch. 1: Labor Force Data Derived from the Current Population Survey

General info:

How the Government Measures Unemployment

Some people think that to get these figures on unemployment, the Government uses the number of persons filing claims for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits under State or Federal Government programs. But some people are still jobless when their benefits run out, and many more are not eligible at all or delay or never apply for benefits. So, quite clearly, UI information cannot be used as a source for complete information on the number of unemployed.
Other people think that the Government counts every unemployed person each month. To do this, every home in the country would have to be contacted—just as in the population census every 10 years. This procedure would cost way too much and take far too long. Besides, people would soon grow tired of having a census taker come to their homes every month, year after year, to ask about job-related activities.