The Portland/Vancouver Metro area lost approximately 52,200 jobs in 2008, or about 5 percent of the total jobs in the area, according to newly-released statistics from the Department of Labor.
Federal labor analysts estimated that on Jan. 1, 2008 there were 1.04 million jobs in the metropolitan area, including Beaverton, but that by year's end only 982,400 remained.
Nationally, 99 of the nation's 100 largest labor markets posted declines, according to the government. The lone increase came along the Mexican border in the McAllen-Edinberg, Tex. metro area.
One economist estimated that the U.S. lost 7 million jobs between 2007 and 2008 and that it might take a decade to recover those job numbers - but that most careers expected to grow over the next decade were low-paying service-sector positions in health care and food industries.
