Some forsee the possibility. The Portland Tribune's Pete Schulberg writes today in "Condos rise even as job rates don’t" about the metro area economy and the prospects for job growth in the city.

“I’m very confident that in the next two years, we’ll see 30,000 new jobs produced by the Portland economy,” says Don Mazziotti, executive director of the Portland Development Commission, who considers redevelopment of the Meier & Frank Co.’s flagship store vital to the city’s economic recovery.

[...]

With hundreds of jobs at stake, the PDC also is awaiting Siltronic Corp.’s decision on whether it will build a new 300-millimeter silicon wafer manufacturing plant.

Job growth falls far behind the metro area’s population influx. From December 2000 to November 2003, the Portland metro area lost 47,000 jobs. This past year, 9,000 jobs returned and the unemployment rate dipped to 6.4 percent from a high of 8.1 percent.

“Portland hasn’t had as much of a recovery as the state as a whole,” says local economist Bill Conerly, who believes 2005 will bring recovery of the high-tech and health care sectors. And, while rising interest rates could slow down home building, commercial projects shouldn’t be affected.

As I wrote yesterday, people appear to be moving to Oregon despite the fact that there aren't really many available jobs in the state. Perhaps these optimists will be right and Portland will gain a large number of jobs in the near future, though I'm still skeptical. It could happen, but I wouldn't count on it.

Ask anyone you know looking for a job in the city how difficult it is to get hired. Things might turn around soon, but they're definitely not turning around yet.