PORTLAND – Demand is falling right when the potential supply is soaring at the Oregon Health & Science University sperm bank.

With the state unemployment rate now in double digits, many men are turning to OHSU’s fertility clinic, offering to donate their sperm. Each donation pays $100, and men who are accepted can donate twice a week.

“We have probably seen a 30 percent increase in interest in the past five months,” David Battaglia, lab director for the clinic, told The Oregonian newspaper. “Usually, when there is a recession you see it. The phone starts ringing more often.”

But like most good jobs, it’s not easy to get. Men must be 20-39 years old, nonsmokers, be able to participate for a year and live in the Portland area. They also must be healthy and have fertile sperm.

OHSU, which has a small sperm bank, can handle only so many donors. After adding some in recent months, it now has 20 – and that’s close to capacity.

The economy has affected demand as well, with fewer people willing to pay $12,000-$15,000 for sperm.

OHSU, however, does need donors of various ethnic backgrounds. Asians, Battaglia said, tend not to donate for cultural reasons. Most others simply don’t get the job.

“It breaks your heart,” Battaglia said. “They’re active intelligent people, and they have no job. Getting $100 to $200 a week makes a big difference to them.”

Women, of course, also are looking for money in this recession. Battaglia said the number of potential egg donors has jumped almost 20 percent in recent months.

OHSU pays women $5,000 when their eggs are picked by a recipient from a book of profiles.

“When you’re talking about that kind of money, that perks up the interest,” Battaglia said.

But the job’s much tougher. Egg donors must undergo a month of tests, ending with an invasive procedure to retrieve the eggs. Egg donors must be younger than 30 and nonsmokers. And like the men, they are screened for physical condition, family history and mental health.