Manufacturing
An eighth of the region’s employees work in the manufacturing sector, which includes a strong presence in high tech (chips, semiconductors, solar components) as well as in metals, machinery and transportation equipment.
The region’s steel mills, foundries and plants produce a wide array of goods, including bridge and architectural elements, construction and mining machinery, and extruded aluminum parts. Transportation equipment is manufactured here for maritime, aerospace and rail industries, including the streetcars that run throughout downtown Portland.
Greater Portland-Vancouver metals companies provide family wage jobs for more than 57,000 workers and contribute $4.2 billion in sales each year to the regional economy.
In high-tech manufacture, Intel is the region’s largest employer, with the greater Portland site being the company’s largest worldwide. The workforce that’s grown up around Intel is feeding the region’s growing solar manufacturing cluster.
Metals, machinery and transportation equipment manufacture
Talent cluster
On par with the national average
Firms
1,046
Major employers
Precision Castparts Corp., The Greenbrier Companies, Blount International, ESCO, Oregon Steel, Cascade General, Leatherman Tool
Workforce
57,430
Average salary
$50,790
Outlook
While more of these family-wage jobs will move offshore in the years ahead, greater Portland stands to fare better than elsewhere, as the regional rate of decline in this talent cluster is projected to be significantly less than that of the national average.
