PORTLAND, Oregon — Portland’s ongoing push for economic growth comes at a time when Oregon’s labor market appears to be faltering, with nearly 25,000 jobs lost in the past year and downtown vacancies prompting calls to convert offices into housing to attract investment.
State employment economist Gail Krumenauer said Oregon has shed 2,700 positions in the most recent month alone and is trailing national recovery figures. Normally, a leader — or a “high flyer,” so to speak — in job growth during economic rebounds, the state has slipped into negative territory over the past year.
Most of the decline has been in manufacturing, dropping 9,400 jobs — roughly 5% of its workforce — while construction and finance each lost about 4% amid high interest rates…