May 2019 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 3.2 percent in May 2019. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in May included Washington (3.4%) and Hood River (3.5%). Only Benton, Washington, Hood River, and Multnomah counties had unemployment rates at or below the national rate of 3.6 percent. Eight of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates below the statewide rate of 4.2 percent.

Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 7.8 percent. Other counties with some of the highest unemployment rates in May were Klamath (6.7%); and Wallowa, Lake, and Harney (6.3%). May 2019 unemployment rates for almost all of Oregon’s counties were similar to what they were in May 2018. Only Wheeler (+1.5%), Grant (+1.1%), and Gilliam (+1.0%) counties had unemployment rates change more than 1 percentage point over the past year.

Read the full press release here.