August 2019 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 3.2 percent in August 2019. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in August included Hood River (3.4%), Washington (3.4%), and Multnomah (3.5%). Six counties had unemployment rates at or below the national rate of 3.7 percent. Nine of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates below the statewide rate of 4.0 percent. Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 7.1 percent. Other counties with some of the highest unemployment rates in August were Wallowa and Klamath (6.5%).

August 2019 unemployment rates for almost all of Oregon’s counties were similar to what they were in August 2018. Only Wheeler County had a change greater than 1 percentage point, with an increase of 1.2 percentage points in its unemployment rate over the past year. Curry County’s unemployment rate decreased 0.3 percentage point over the past year, the most of any county.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose in all six of Oregon’s broad regions between August 2018 and August 2019. The largest job gains occurred in the Portland area and Southern Oregon (+1.2%). The Willamette Valley (+0.9%), the Coast (+0.8%), Central Oregon (+0.3%), and Eastern Oregon (+0.3%) also saw employment growth over the past year.

The press release can be found here.