Monday, May 18, 2009

Are Hipsters Driving Up Portland Unemployment?

Yes, says the Wall Street Journal. However, it is probably these folks (see graph below) that will drive the recovery and future growth of the region - so thanks young, educated and talented immigrants. If we can't create our own at least we can get them from elsewhere.



Of course, with unemployment in Oregon so high we may see a reversal of this trend soon.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I agree that in the long run we'll be better off with the college grads moving to Portland.

I was born in Portland in the early 1970s and graduated from OSU. I went out of state for an MBA and came back to live and work near family.

In the short run, it is tough to get a job with a nice salary in Portland, even before the recession. It seems to me that the supply of labor is pretty high and wages are pretty low compared to less desirable places like Kansas City or St. Louis for most MBA-type jobs.

The lack of a major headquarters other than Nike is a real problem for MBA-types like myself. It's amazing to look at cities that are considered to be much less innovative or "hip", like St. Louis, Kansas City or Cincinnati, but have higher salaries for MBA-type jobs due to the corporate HQs there.

Maybe Portland will catch up in about 20 years or so....