The Future Of Jobs In Portland

The city of Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has released an "Economic Opportunities Analysis" that, with the help of the number-crunchers at Metro, comes to some pretty interesting conclusions about the future of the local economy.

In another 23 years, for instance, Metro and the city figure Portland will boast another 147,000 new jobs. Wow! That's a lot of economic opportunities. Lucky future people.

What's more surprising is where those jobs are projected to be…


OK, just kidding. Here's the real chart:


The report (pdf) actually is somewhat interesting given its focus on industrial development.

"In the Industrial areas," it says, "Portland only has about 60% of the land needed, with a shortfall of about 800 acres."

It also includes this recommendation to address that speculative shortfall: "Annex and rezone West Hayden Island for industrial use to meet the demand for marine terminals."

Speaking of which, there's an open house coming up next week (June 20) on the city's "preliminary draft plan" for West Hayden Island, which will be released tomorrow (June 15). Check the BPS website for details.