Oregon's September Employment Situation: Private-Sector Gains, Unemployment Flat

This morning, the Oregon Employment Department released the September statewide unemployment rate and total nonfarm employment numbers. The unemployment rate was unchanged from August (10.6%), and has been essentially unchanged for 11 months. Oregon's unemployment rate was 11.0 percent in September 2009. This September, 196,303 Oregonians were unemployed, the fewest since December 2008.

Employment in Oregon's private sector grew by 1,600 in September. Private-sector employment has risen by 5,600 since March. Over the last six months, three sectors added more than 2,400 jobs each: professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; and other services.
Three major industries saw large job declines in September: government (-3,400 jobs), manufacturing (-2,100), and construction (-1,000). Government losses reflected continuing declines from the conclusion of Census work. Employment levels in local education were also down significantly (-2,600 jobs) from September 2009. Manufacturing losses occurred largely in wood products and electronic products. Most of the published subsectors of construction posted over-the-month losses.

For more information, check out the full (newly redesigned!) press release.
All numbers are seasonally adjusted.