Lane and Douglas County saw some improvement in their jobless rates last month. In Lane unemployment dropped to 6.9 percent while Douglas County dropped to 10 percent.
Brian Rooney is a regional Labor Economist with the State Employment Department. He says December saw modest job growth, mainly in the service industry.
Rooney: "We're seeing the goods producing sector down in general. Except for logging-- logging is up by 50 in Douglas County and 100 in Lane County. Otherwise construction and manufacturing is still lagging in the recovery."
Rooney says government is a mixed bag with some job growth in Lane County last month. Benton County has the lowest jobless rate in the state at 5.3 percent. Crook and Harney counties have the highest with unemployment just above 11 percent.
