Unemployment Duration and Reasons in Oregon

This week a business found this old post I wrote about the duration and reasons for unemployment in Oregon. They asked how 2017 compares. So let's take a look!

The Current Population Survey shows total unemployment at 86,000 in 2017. That's the lowest number of unemployed persons in Oregon going back to 2003. The median duration that a person remained unemployed in Oregon neared nine weeks in 2017. That was a slight increase from seven and a half weeks in 2016. The shortest median duration in recent years, seven weeks, occurred in both 2006 and 2007.

In the wake of the last recession, the majority of unemployed Oregonians between 2009 and 2012 had lost their jobs. In 2009, unemployment topped 220,000, and Oregonians who lost jobs accounted for two-thirds (67%) of the total. That share dropped to 48 percent by 2013, as the number of unemployed persons who lost their jobs fell by more than half, the number of labor force entrants grew, and the number of workers voluntarily leaving jobs without another one lined up stayed relatively low.

Since 2013, total unemployment has declined year to year. The number of new labor force entrants has slowed. Still, by 2016, there were more unemployed Oregonians who had joined the labor force but not yet found a job than unemployed Oregonians who lost a job. As of 2017, entrants made up the largest share of the unemployed (43%). Oregon had 30,700 unemployed workers who lost their jobs, which made up 39 percent of the total. Unemployed workers who voluntarily quit their jobs reached an eight-year high at 13,600 (18% of the total).