Oregon lost a little over 4,600 jobs in October, with most losses concentrated in business services, leisure and hospitality.
State employment economist Gail Krumenauer of the Oregon Employment Department said despite some losses, several important sectors are growing. Construction alone added 1,500 hundred new jobs across the state in October. The industry also has 5.1% more workers now than it did around the same time last year, according to a state job report.
The healthcare and social assistance sector also saw significant growth, with a 6% bump in jobs over the last year. A significant portion of that growth was in nursing and residential care facilities.
“Despite a recent slowdown in job gains, Oregon has still added about 44,000 jobs in the past year,” Krumenauer said, “which is an increase of 2.3% and after declining slightly earlier in the year, the size of Oregon's labor force has stabilized over the past few months.”
Krumenauer said Oregon’s unemployment rate is also still below the national average, about 3.6% compared to the US average of 3.9%.
Regionally, job numbers from September show western Oregon counties are improving, with unemployment continuing to drop from pandemic levels.
