Oregon state agencies cut average hiring time to 49 days, DAS progress report says

The Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) has released the Oregon Agency Expectations: Three-Year Progress Report. It tracks how Executive Branch agencies are doing on 11 expectations Gov. Tina Kotek set in a January 2023 letter, covering employee performance, services, technology, planning and accountability. DAS announced the report in a news release on Oct. 5, 2026.

Hiring: Agencies took an average of 71 days to fill a job in 2023, when the statewide vacancy rate was above 14%. The governor set a goal of under 50 days, measured from when a recruitment opens to when a job offer is made. By the second quarter of 2026 the average was 49 days, the first time agencies beat the goal, the report says.

Office space and permits: DAS says moving agencies into state-owned buildings has shrunk Oregon’s office footprint by about 782,000 square feet since 2021, an 8% drop that saves about $12.9 million a year. ODOT’s updated heavy truck permit program cut processing from days to minutes with 24-hour access, and auto-issued permits rose from zero to 45%. The Department of Revenue cut business registration processing from 30 days to two.

Audits and accountability: In the March 2026 Oregon Expectations Report, agencies listed 127 audit reports with 787 recommendations; agencies now report on audits twice a year. By 2026, every agency director on the job a year or more had completed a “Director 360” evaluation. In 2023, only 29 of 77 directors said they had a performance review within a year.

Workforce and emergencies: The share of engaged state employees reached 42% in 2026, up 6%, compared with a national average of 31%, the release says. The Oregon Department of Human Services cut staff turnover from about 11% to 8%. Eighty-eight state agencies have filed a Continuity of Operations Plan with the Office of Emergency Management, up from 42 in 2023. The Construction Contractors Board now offers licensing and continuing-education courses in Spanish, and its Spanish exam pass rate rose from about 30% to 56% as of June 2026.

Read it yourself: Three-year progress report (PDF): https://www.oregon.gov/das/strategy/Documents/agency-expectations-report-2026.pdf . DAS news release: https://apps.oregon.gov/oregon-newsroom/OR/DAS/Posts/Post/Progress-Report-State-Agencies-Delivering-on-Governor-Kotek-Expectations . The governor’s 2023 expectations letter: https://www.oregon.gov/das/Docs/Oregon_Agency_Expectations_Governor_Letter.pdf .

These figures are the state’s own self-assessment. This is a Notice Nearby publisher-desk brief based on a DAS news email sent to publisher@noticenearby.com on Oct. 5, 2026. It is not a legal notice and not Legal Publication. Photo: the Oregon State Capitol in Salem, by M.O. Stevens, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).