Oregon’s Biggest Employers are Getting a Lot Bigger - 25 Year Pattern

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Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Big business in Oregon is getting a lot bigger.  A GoLocalPDX look at the top employers in Oregon during the past 25 years shows that the top 10 private employers have grown by more than 60%.

Combined, the top 10 employers in 1988 employed 52,870 Oregonians, but that number 25 years later has grown to 88,210.  

SEE SLIDESHOW BELOW OF THE TOP 10 EMPLOYERS -- 25 Years Ago and Now

As then-Governor John Kitzhaber said in his inauguration earlier this year, “We currently measure economic recovery by two things: the number of jobs we are creating and the rate at which our state GDP – the creation of wealth – is growing.  By those metrics we are doing very well in Oregon.  We have gained back all the jobs we lost during the Great Recession and – as measured by growth of the state GDP – Oregon had the fifth fastest growing state economy in the U.S. in 2011 and the fourth fastest in 2012.”

The perception may be Oregon’s economy is built on small business, but according to the analysis of the top 10 employers, the big companies have gotten much bigger and two big employers have exploded in their growth.

The 25 Year Boost

Twenty-five years ago, Fred Meyer was Oregon’s largest employer with an estimated 9,200 employes. In the most recent data, Fred Meyer had increased in number of employees from the 9,200 level up to 10,237 — an 11% growth, but the company’s ranking fell from #1 to #6 in Oregon.

Nike and Intel

In contrast, Nike employed 1,809 employes and was the 24th largest employer in Oregon. Now 25 years later Nike has grown from 24th to the 7th largest employer in the state and reports over 8,000 employes - a growth rate of 342%.

Even more impressive has been the growth of Intel. Twenty-five years ago the chip-maker employed an impressive 3,500 employees in Oregon and now the number has grown 400% to 17,500 employees. Intel is Oregon’s largest private employer outpacing #2 Providence Health by more than 2,000.

Since 1974, when Intel first moved to Oregon, “the company’s capital investments in the state have topped $25 billion. That amount will increase significantly with the addition of Mod I and Mod II at D1X, the new development fabrication facility under construction through 2015, at the Ronler Acres Campus,” according to Intel.

Intel has been named the “Most Admired Technology Company” in Oregon for nine years in a row.

Professional Job Explosion

Since 1990, seasonally adjusted professional and business services jobs has grown from 100,000 to 225,000 — led by accounting, tech and management consulting jobs.

Oregon’s economy is more dependent now on its biggest employers. The US Department of Labor reports that total employment in Oregon exceeds 1.8 million and unemployment has dropped to 5.3% — total employment has grown 28% over the past 25 years - less than half the rate of the top 10 private employers.

 

Editor's note: data provided by State of Oregon, U.S. Department of Labor, Portland Business Journal, and Intel.

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Related Slideshow: Oregon’s Largest Employers - The Change Over 25 Years

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