Oregon’s unemployment rate went up slightly last month. The state employment department says it was 4.8 % in June. Nick Beleiciks, State Employment Economist, says the summer season is one factor.
“It’s normal for unemployment to increase in the summer, especially as people are leaving school, so they’re looking for work. And some of the jobs associated with the school year are on hiatus during the summer. However, I think recently, we’ve seen this pattern to increase a lot more than usual. So there’s more people entering the labor force in Oregon this summer than we typically expect.”
Beleciks says the state’s labor force reached an all time high of 2,053,000. Oregon’s unemployment rate is on par with the national rate of 4.9 %.