Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Portland, Oregon: where work is optional.

The New York Times noticed a cultural phenomenon on the west coast. It only took 15 years or so on this one:
Portland, meanwhile, has the opposite problem. It has more highly educated people than it knows what to do with. Portland is not a corporate town, as its neighbors Seattle and San Francisco have become. While there are employment opportunities in the outdoor-apparel business (Nike, Adidas and Columbia Sportswear are all nearby) or the semiconductor industry (Intel has a large presence in Hillsboro), most workers have far fewer opportunities. According to Renn, personal income per capita in the city grew by a mere 31 percent between 2000 and 2012, slower than 42 other cities, including Grand Rapids, Mich., and Rochester. And yet people still keep showing up. “People move to New York to be in media or finance; they move to L.A. to be in show business,” Renn said. “People move to Portland to move to Portland.” Matthew Hale may have all the kombucha he can drink, but he doesn’t have a job.

 Link.

1 comment:

Mr. Alex said...

PDX is poised to become a world leader in used panty vending machines ;-D

But seriously, it's almost impossible to get a job in Portland without 'knowing the right people' if you don't code. If you do code, you'll most likely be working remotely for an outfit HQed in a larger Metro or hacking out some appy-cloudy-start-up-flim-flam for a firm with vapor thin revenue potential.

The rental market here continues to go stratospheric, with the endless influx of transplants from CA, WA, + NYC who perceive x3+ traditional Portland rental prices as a bargain pushing monthly housing expenditures into the ceiling while cash wielding hedge funds blindly gobble up everything on the market.

But fear not - soon the Great and Mighty Cthulhu will free us from our false prosperity with a deluge of CDO triggers! PRAISE CTHULHU!!!