Oregon on the Record spoke with a state economist, human resource experts and the executive director of a local workforce board to try and get a handle on the incredibly tight labor market impacting many employers in our region.
After the historically sharp recession due to COVID, yet the somewhat surprisingly quick recovery, we find our economy in a bit of a dilemma: the unemployment rate is gratifying low, but the number of jobs going unfilled is high.
To find out what’s going on Oregon on the Record spoke to the following authorities about the fundamental issues facing employers today:
- Josh Lehner, Senior Economist with the State Office of Economic Analysis
- Bill Nevell, the VP of HR at Springfield’s Timber Products
- Shawna Gribskov, an HR manager at Oregon’s Dutch Brothers
- Ashley Espinoza, executive director of Lane Workforce Partnership
- Karen Richards, KLCC reporter who reported on the changing nature of work via this special report
All agreed that companies of every size are having challenges finding employees that they need right now, and many hiring managers are having to rethink the way they recruit. Increasing wages, expanding benefits and making many workplace accommodations are now the norm for many HR professionals.
Additionally, workforce boards around the state are positioning people from traditionally under-employed sectors to employers who desperately need workers.
Finally, the almost unprecedented jobs recovery from COVID has left many experts guessing at to what comes next for the state and national economy.
