Salem Jobs

Salem, both the state capitol city and Marion County Seat, is Oregon’s second largest city and the regional and economic hub of the Willamette Valley. State government is the area’s largest employer with approximately 13,000 full-time workers employed by more the fifty government departments and agencies. Salem is also a major agricultural food processing center as well as a center of employment in education as home to Willamette University.

The last two decades have brought much change to this area. Large national retailers such as Costco, Shopko, Wal-Mart, Target and Home Depot recognized the Salem region’s market potential opening outlets throughout Marion County. Changes in business have included the lumber and textile industries gradually giving way to high technology. Salem’s diversification into electronics and metal fabrication has been praised by Oregon Business magazine.

The principal industries providing employment in Salem and West Salem are educational, health and social services (20%), retail trade (12%), public administration (11%), and manufacturing (12%). The main areas of employment in Keizer are educational, health and social services (18%), public administration (12%), manufacturing (12%) and retail trade (11%). Many Keizer residents commute into Salem with an average commute time of just over 22 minutes. Salem and Keizer residents commuting to tech jobs in Portland can expect an easy hour commute each way.

Here’s a link to Career Builder for jobs in the Salem area. If you are thinking of commuting from Salem to Portland, here are the links to CareerBuilder for jobs in the Portland market.