2025 proved an unfavorable year for Lane County’s employment market, according to the latest report from the Oregon Employment Department.
The county shed 200 jobs from December 2024 to December 2025 while adding 885 people to its labor force. The result was an increase in the unemployment rate from 4.3% to 5.2%.
“That’s a very slow decline [in jobs], but a decline nonetheless,” said OED Regional Labor Economist Brian Rooney.
Rooney said such stories are common around the U.S. at the moment.
"We’re kind of in a no-hire, no-fire situation. We’re seeing relatively small employment losses and relatively small gains in the unemployment rate, but they do add up over the year," he said.
Economic uncertainty has led many businesses to put expansion on hold, which is likely the cause of the issue, according to Rooney.
The largest losses locally came in the government sector, particularly in local education. Rooney said that a large contributor to that was likely layoffs at the University of Oregon.
Another source of losses was the construction sector, which lost 400 jobs last year.
“Construction had a few really good years, [20]21-’24. There was a lot of investment in housing and infrastructure, and that’s just backing off to the previous level,” Rooney said.
He said Lane County is following an Oregon trend, with its strongest gains coming in the health care and social assistance subsector.
