Lane County’s unemployment rate decreased slightly in August. It’s the first decrease after three consecutive increases.
The jobless rate in Lane County went down to 6.4 percent in August from 6.5 percent in July.
Regional Economist Brian Rooney says job growth is behind these numbers. He says there are more jobs in the leisure and hospitality industry. Manufacturing jobs increased slightly, defying expectations of faster growth.
Rooney hopes the re-opening of the Mill that burned down last year in Springfield will improve the county’s manufacturing sector.
Rooney: “We’ll see how it goes going forward. That Mill is supposed to be re-opened, that should help the manufacturing industry a little bit. In general we’ve gained back over half of the jobs we lost in the recession.”
Over the year Lane County has added jobs and its unemployment rate has been in decline since the recession’s peak in 2009. Douglas County saw an increase in its unemployment rate last month to 8.2 percent.
For more information on Oregon's unemployment numbers, visit the Oregon Employment Department's website.
