May unemployment rates in Oregon's counties

Today, the Oregon Employment Department released county level unemployment rates for May 2010. More than a dozen of Oregon's 36 counties stand in single digits this month. One year ago, over two dozens had rates above 10 percent.

County jobless rates varied by 10 percentage points in May 2010. Benton County posted the lowest unemployment rate at 7.0 percent, while Crook County had the highest at 17.0 percent. The largest drop in unemployment over the previous year occurred in Morrow County (-3.6 percentage points), while Lake County saw the biggest increase (+1.3 percentage points).

Each of Oregon's six metropolitan areas experienced over-the-year declines in unemployment rates. All but Corvallis (Benton County) remain above the U.S. jobless rate of 9.7 percent, and four of the six metro areas have higher unemployment rates than Oregon's statewide rate (10.6% in May).

For more details, visit the local area unemployment statistics page on our website, http://www.qualityinfo.org/.