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Going down? Not if you鈥檙e in the business of servicing elevators.

Bad economic times may be devastating other businesses, but Wes Grant, one of the owners of Reliant Elevator Company in Portland, said elevators need to be kept moving even when the economy is not.

鈥淭he economy has hurt us a little bit. I鈥檒l admit that,鈥� Grant said. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 always a demand for elevator service.鈥�

Elevators are such a part of everyday life that few people probably think about the jobs they represent. Those jobs weigh heavily on Frank Regaldo, the manager of the International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 23 in Portland.

A phone call to the local immediately triggers a message saying there are no jobs.

There may still be a demand for elevator maintenance, Regaldo said, but workers feel more or less stuck between floors. They鈥檙e not going down, but they鈥檙e certainly not going up.

鈥淎ll the trades are hurting right now,鈥� Regaldo said. 鈥淲e basically follow the construction industry.鈥�
Bob Shiprack, general secretary of the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council, said unemployment in the construction industry in Oregon is running at about 30 percent. No new buildings means no new elevators.

Regaldo鈥檚 union covers both elevator maintenance and construction workers. 鈥淭he maintenance guys are holding their own, but things are hurting on the construction side,鈥� he said.

Of course, things are rough all over in the elevator business.

How bad? Muzak has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The people responsible for getting 鈥淭he Girl from Ipanema鈥� stuck in your head after an elevator ride are filing for bankruptcy, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company鈥檚 debts are reportedly between $100 million and $500 million.

Otis Elevator Co. is the biggest elevator manufacturer in the world. Executives at its parent company, United Technologies, announced 11,600 layoffs in March. Nonetheless, Otis executives point to booming markets in China where the company installed the country鈥檚 first super double-deck elevators in a 101-story building.

They estimate the equivalent of the world鈥檚 population travels on Otis elevators, escalators and other movers every three days. Their elevators alone, they say, carry the equivalent of the world鈥檚 population every nine days.

Otis may be the biggest manufacturer of elevators in the world, but in the United States, the current champ is ThyssenKrupp.

Both ThyssenKrupp and Otis are massive multinational corporations. Otis鈥� headquarters in Farmington, Conn. Thyssen-Krupp is a German conglomerate based in Dusseldorf. Both companies have offices in Portland.

Otis鈥� origins go back to the company鈥檚 founder, Elisha Otis, who is credited with inventing the first elevator in 1853. In truth, people have been using elevators in some form or fashion since the third century BC.

What Otis did was demonstrate a freight elevator equipped with a safety device to prevent falling in case a supporting cable should break. This increased public confidence in elevators and led to their widespread use.

ThyssenKrupp is the latest business incarnation of the Krupp family of Germany, a 400-year-old dynasty known for steel manufacturing and weapons manufacturing. In its current form, Thyssen-Krupp devotes itself to elevator, automotive components and various forms of technology.

The ThyssenKrupp and Otis offices in Portland are delivering different assessments of the local installation market. Geoff Kittell, sales manager for ThyssenKrupp鈥檚 new construction division, said that although new installations have picked up in the last two months, the company鈥檚 2009 installations are down by about 60 percent from the company鈥檚 projections.

By contrast, Jay Barber, general manager of Otis Elevator in Portland, said his company鈥檚 volume of new installations is 鈥渟urprisingly robust鈥� despite the slowdown in construction. He credited 鈥渁 healthy backlog of work,鈥� although he was reached while out of his office, and thus he did not have specific statistics.

Both Otis and ThyssenKrupp have their own maintenance workers, but that doesn鈥檛 completely cut out opportunities for local companies like Reliant. Not all Otis and ThyssenKrupp components are 鈥減roprietary,鈥� Grant said, so independent maintenance people can work on them.

Working on elevators, of course, requires a highly specialized set of skills. Given the need for safety, properly trained people are essential. They are generally trained through the union. When Reliant has an opening, for example, Grant goes down the list of union members who have successfully completed apprenticeships and passed tests.

There are no apprenticeships available now, said Regaldo. Will there be in the foreseeable future? He said he doesn鈥檛 know.

For now, the career elevator is stalled.