PORTLAND — Oregon is one of the oldest states in the nation and it’s getting older, with a median age older than 40. It’s a trend that threatens the availability of workers for future economic growth.

But one piece of the state’s labor force is much younger, and growing rapidly: Hispanic Oregonians.

Nearly 1 in 7 Oregon workers are Hispanic and the number of Hispanics working in Oregon has grown by more than 50% over the last decade, according to a tally of new Census data by Luke Coury, economist with the Oregon Employment Department.

Oregon had more than 300,000 Hispanics working in the state last year, the Census data finds. The state had fewer than 200,000 in 2012.

The state’s greatest concentrations of Hispanic workers are in health care, manufacturing, hospitality and retail jobs. Each category accounts for about 12% of the Hispanic workforce. (Agriculture ranks sixth, at 8%. Farming has a high concentration of Hispanic workers but a smaller workforce relative to other industries.)

Hispanics working in Oregon tend to earn less than their non-Hispanic, white counterparts. The median income for Hispanic workers was about $32,000 in 2021, Coury found, compared to about $45,000 for white Oregonians.

Wages for Oregon’s Hispanic workers rose sharply over the preceding decade, though, and the share of the state’s adult Hispanic residents with a four-year college degree has increased to 18%.

Oregon’s concentration of Hispanic workers (14.5%) is lower than the national rate (18.7%). That’s largely because a handful of large states like California, Texas and Florida have very high numbers of Hispanic workers. Overall, Oregon ranks 14th among states in Hispanic population.

In the years ahead, Coury notes that Hispanic workers are poised to play a growing role in the state’s economy. That’s because the median age of Oregon Hispanics was under 28 in 2021, almost 17 years younger than non-Hispanic whites.

At a time when Oregon’s total population is aging and more people are leaving the state than moving in, Hispanic workers could help maintain Oregon’s labor pool and set the stage for future economic growth.