The number of people looking for work in Oregon is almost six times bigger than the number of jobs available — according to a study by the Oregon Department of Employment.

The study took a snap-shot of the employment situation in October.

State economic analyst, Charlie Johnson, says about 175,000 people were looking for work, in a market with 30,000 vacancies. He says that’s a ratio of 5.8-to-one.

“So in Oregon in the spring of 2008, there were 2.2 unemployed per vacancy. So that gives us kind of a sense of what might be a normal unemployed to vacancy ratio in the state — compared to our current level of 5.8,” Johnson said.

Oregon jobs paid an average $16 per hour, although wages varied drastically by occupation. For example, jobs requiring little education offered less than $15 a hour. With a vocational degree they paid $20 an hour. It was $28 with a bachelor’s degree and $34 with a graduate degree.

Still, nearly 60 percent of all vacancies didn’t require any education beyond high school.