Times have been tough for the Oregon economy and our workforce. Any leader will tell you that when faced with daunting challenges, the best approach is to get back to the fundamentals and play to your strengths. Oregon should heed this advice.
Our state’s strong suits are rooted in our constant push for progress and improvement. We are a state of builders. Oregon’s skilled trades workers construct the highways, powerlines, wind and solar farms, buildings, college campuses, and the infrastructure that serves as the connective tissue of our cities and towns — from structural steel frameworks to electrical wiring to piping systems. The builder’s mindset also applies to our entrepreneurs and leading companies who are always pushing into new frontiers of technological advancement, including emerging technologies like AI.
So why is such a proud and innovative state facing stronger economic headwinds than other states?
While some of the challenges we’re confronting are beyond our control, such as an aging population and complex trends in global commerce, Oregon’s elected officials must own their choices that put us at a competitive disadvantage and worsens our economic slump. For example, the Legislature’s failure to pass a comprehensive transportation package before the end of the regular session threatens to stall critical infrastructure projects and make it more difficult to maintain our roads and replace our aging bridges.
Another area of concern is the increasing hostility toward our state’s digital infrastructure. Legislation to impose discriminatory costs on Oregon data centers was enacted earlier this year, and, unfortunately, doesn’t get us closer to addressing our underlying energy issues while adding yet another layer of regulatory burden to industries looking to invest in new projects in the Beaver State.
Despite policy hurdles at the state level, Oregon’s building trades and tech companies have pushed ahead in a collaborative fashion to help tackle our state’s energy challenges. Trade Unions invest millions of private dollars into state-registered apprenticeship programs and workforce development initiatives to build a talent pipeline that can construct the energy projects and transmission network needed to fuel our economy. And earlier this year, Google announced that the company was donating $1 million to the electrical worker training programs across Oregon in partnership with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors Association to help expand access — however, there must be jobs and on-the-job training opportunities for apprentices to get into a program and advance through it.
In addition to the power infrastructure and wind, solar, and battery development being spurred by data center construction, it’s also important to acknowledge what these facilities unlock for the rest of the Oregon economy. The technologies powered by Oregon’s data centers are being leveraged by advanced manufacturers, universities, hospitals, and a range of other industries to improve their operations and sharpen their competitive edge. This is what enables growth and expansion and leads to shovels in the ground and cranes in the sky.
This is exactly the kind of economic activity Oregon needs right now. A leading construction index found that the number of construction cranes in Portland dwindled to just five at the beginning of 2025 — the lowest number in a decade — and the region has lost 3,000 construction jobs over the past year alone. Public projects alone cannot keep the construction industry thriving and hammering tech infrastructure takes us in the opposite direction and will only exacerbate these struggles.
The encouraging news is that Oregon has all of the pieces in place to generate an economic renaissance. We have a growing bench of skilled workers, the brightest minds in the world, and an infrastructure network that — if properly maintained and expanded — can power decades of prosperity. The only question is whether our policymakers will course correct and advance measures that help our state seize this opportunity.
Lorne Bulling is political director of Portland-based Ironworkers Local 29.
Well said….. policies that drive away from direct use of natural gas in homes and businesses to electric heating are not supported by facts or data if the goal is to balance cost, emission reductions and reliability. Just NWNaturals system delivers 50% more energy than any other utility in Oregon over the course of a year.