Oregon Housing Production Workforce Assessment

ECOnorthwest conducted a housing production workforce assessment for the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) and its Office of Workforce Investments. Oregon has an ambitious housing production goal: to produce 36,000 housing units per year for the next 10 years, a large increase relative to recent levels of 20,000 or fewer units per year. The workforce assessment involved defining and describing the housing production workforce, including demographic analysis; quantifying the workforce needed to reach the production goal; conducting engagement of employers and training providers (including a survey, interviews, and focus groups); providing an inventory and summary information about Oregon’s current education and training programs relevant to housing construction; and recommending strategies and activities to expand and support Oregon’s housing production workforce. Study findings suggest the need for extraordinary efforts to meet the housing production goal within the next few years.