Oregon continued to add jobs in November.
The Oregon Employment Department says the state added 4,200 jobs, with the strongest gains in transportation, warehousing and utilities. The agency said that’s due to the increase in online shopping this year, which leads to a greater need for workers at distribution centers and delivery services.
Other sectors with significant November job gains include professional and business services, manufacturing, and health care. Those were offset by job losses in construction, government, and retail trade.
But the November job numbers don’t take into account the latest round of coronavirus restrictions, which kicked in late in the month. State employment economist Gail Krumenauer said the recovery was already cooling even before the so-called “freeze” took effect.
"We’ve seen that we’ve added jobs in each of the last seven months, which is great," she said. "That pace of growth really has been slowing down, though.”
Oregon’s unemployment rate for November was six percent, which is below the national rate of six-point-seven percent.
