Oregon Payrolls Added Jobs for Seventh Consecutive Month

This morning, the Employment Department released preliminary employment estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for Oregon in April. On a seasonally adjusted basis, Oregon added 3,700 jobs over the month. Large gains occurred in leisure and hospitality (+2,600 jobs), manufacturing (+1,200), and other services (+1,100), while construction dropped 1,200 jobs.

Effective today, this monthly employment series was revised by the Oregon Employment Department for all months from October 2012 through March 2013. The numbers now incorporate a near-universe count of employment covered by the Unemployment Insurance program for October through December. The employment estimates for January 2013 through March 2013 were then adjusted to reflect the newly revised December figures.

These improvements to Oregon's employment data resulted in an upward revision of 3,100 jobs to December's nonfarm payroll employment. Private-sector employment rose by 6,500 jobs from the preliminary estimates, while government employment was revised downward by 3,400 jobs.

Oregon's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.0 percent in April, down from 8.2 percent in March. Roughly 150,600 Oregonians were unemployed in April.

More information can be found in the Employment Department's full employment situation news release.