By Dominic Moore, President, Flux
"A new study of migrants moving into Oregon from other states shows an unusually high number of them are young and that they tend to be well educated, especially in technical fields. That runs against the popular image of TV's "Portlandia" – a slacker who drifts into the city for a part time job slinging espresso." -- Mike Rogoway, Business Reporter, The Oregonian
Several weeks ago I sat down to discuss Oregon's influx of high tech talent with Mike Rogoway, technology reporter for The Oregonian. Mike was doing a piece on a recently released state economic study showing a majority of newcomers moving into Oregon are young and tend to be well educated – especially in the technical fields.
This study runs counter to the popular TV show Portlandia which paints our city a destination for ultra-conscientious hipsters who don't seem to identify with particularly technical careers. Sure – it’s true that Portland has its fair share of amazing espresso slingers, but Mike wanted my take on what we were seeing from the pool of new talent in the state.
I told Mike, at Flux, we are seeing the same trends in our NW recruiting efforts as revealed in the state’s economic study. Portland is very attractive to young people in the tech fields (scientists, engineers, architects, developers and more) and they are moving here to build their careers with some of the region’s best companies. Portland has a great reputation as a well-designed, vibrant, and livable city. It also helps that the Portland area job rate growth has outpaced the national average at 3.3 percent increase last year. That's a whole lot better than the 1.9 percent national average. This boom has been building for several years now and it's part of what inspired us to launch Flux.
And, while it's true Portland's population has a reputation across the country among a notoriously young crowd, our team is also seeing many recent retirees who are looking for part-time and project related work in Portland area. Compared to other major metro areas, Portland is mellower - yet still edgy - and livable for the long-term.
Read Mike Rogoway's entire article in The Oregonian, here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2016/01/portlandia_no_longer_oregons_y.html
