December 2019 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Benton and Washington County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rates at 3.0 percent in December 2019. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in December included Hood River (3.1%) and Multnomah (3.2%). Seven counties had unemployment rates below the national rate of 3.5 percent. Nine of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates at or below the statewide rate of 3.7 percent.

Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 6.6 percent. Other counties with some of the highest unemployment rates in November were Klamath (6.3%) and Wallowa (5.9%).

In December 2019, all of Oregon’s counties were at or below their unemployment rates for December 2018. Wheeler County had the same unemployment rate in December 2018 as in December 2019 (4.5%). Curry County’s unemployment decreased the most, from 6.8 percent in December 2018 to 5.1 percent in December 2019.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose in all six of Oregon’s broad regions between December 2018 and December 2019. The largest job gains occurred in Central Oregon (+2.2%). The Portland area (+1.0%), Southern Oregon (+1.0%), the Willamette Valley (+0.8%), the Coast (+0.7%), and Eastern Oregon (+0.6%) also saw employment growth over the past year.

Read the full press release here.

September 2019 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 3.3 percent in September 2019. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in September included Hood River (3.4%), Washington (3.4%), and Multnomah (3.6%). Three counties had unemployment rates at or below the national rate of 3.5 percent. Nine of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates below the statewide rate of 4.1 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 September were Klamath (6.7%) and Wallowa (6.6%).

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose in all six of Oregon’s broad regions between September 2018 and September 2019. The largest job gains occurred in the Portland area (+1.1%). The Coast (+0.8%), Southern Oregon (+0.8%), the Willamette Valley (+0.7%), Central Oregon (+0. 6%), and Eastern Oregon (+0.4%) also saw employment growth over the past year.

Read the full press release here. 

June 2019 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 3.2 percent in June 2019. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in June included Washington (3.3%), Hood River (3.5%), and Multnomah (3.5%). Seven counties had unemployment rates at or below the national rate of 3.7 percent. Eight of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates below the statewide rate of 4.1 percent.

Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 7.5 percent. Other counties with some of the highest unemployment rates in June were Klamath (6.5%) and Wallowa (6.3%).

Read the full press release here.

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. 

April 2019 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 3.3 percent in April 2019. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in April included Washington (3.5%) and Hood River (3.6%). Only Benton, Washington, and Hood River 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 4.3 percent. 

Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 8.0 percent. Other counties with some of the highest unemployment rates in April were Klamath (6.9%) and Harney (6.6%). April 2019 unemployment rates for almost all of Oregon’s counties were similar to what they were in April 2018. Only Wheeler (+1.5%), Gilliam (+1.1%), Grant (+1.1%), and Lake (+1.1%) counties had unemployment rates change more than 1 percentage point over the past year.

Read the full press release here. 

March 2019 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 3.4 percent in March 2019. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in March included Washington (3.6%), Clackamas, Hood River, Multnomah, and Yamhill (all at 3.9%). Only Benton and Washington counties had unemployment rates at or below the national rate of 3.8 percent. Seven of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates below the statewide rate of 4.4 percent.

Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 8.4 percent. Other counties with some of the highest unemployment rates in March were Klamath (7.3%) and Harney (6.9%). The March 2019 unemployment rates of almost all of Oregon’s counties were higher than they were in March 2018.

Read the full press release here. 

February 2019 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 3.4 percent in February 2019. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in February included Washington (3.7%) and Hood River (3.8%). Only these three counties had unemployment rates at or below the national rate of 3.8 percent. Seven of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates below the statewide rate of 4.4 percent. 

Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 8.7 percent. Other counties with some of the highest unemployment rates in February were Klamath (7.4%) and Harney (7.1%).

The February 2019 unemployment rates of all of Oregon’s counties were higher than they were in February 2018. The largest changes from the previous year were in Wheeler (+1.8%), Grant (+1.7%), and Gilliam (+1.6%).

Read the full press release here. 

January 2019 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 3.4 percent in January 2019. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in January included Hood River (3.5%) and Washington (3.7%). Seven of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates at or below the statewide unemployment rate of 4.3 percent and the national rate of 4.0 percent.

Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 8.5 percent. Other counties with some of the highest unemployment rates in January were Harney and Klamath (7.2%).

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose in all six of Oregon’s broad regions between January 2018 and January 2019. The largest job gains occurred in Southern Oregon and Central Oregon (+1.5%). The Portland Area (+1.2%), the Coast (+0.8%), the Willamette Valley (+0.6%) and Eastern Oregon (+0.6%) also added jobs.

Read the full press release here. 

December 2018 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 3.3 percent in December 2018. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in December included Hood River (3.5%), Washington (3.5%), and Multnomah (3.7%).

Seven of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates at or below the statewide unemployment rate of 4.1 percent and six were at or below the national rate of 3.9 percent. Eastern and Southern Oregon had higher unemployment rates in December 2018, which were still close to their record low unemployment rates since 1990.

Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 7.4 percent. Other counties with some of the highest unemployment rates in December were Klamath (6.6%) and Curry (6.5%).

Read the full press release here. 

November 2018 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 3.3 percent in November 2018. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in November included Hood River (3.4%), Washington (3.4%), and Multnomah (3.6%). 

Seven of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates at or below the statewide unemployment rate of 3.9 percent and four were at or below the national rate of 3.7 percent. Eastern and Southern Oregon had higher unemployment rates in November 2018, which were still close to their record low unemployment rates since 1990. 

Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 7.1 percent, which was 1 percentage higher than Grant’s lowest unemployment rate since comparable records began in 1990. Harney County’s unemployment rate improved over the year by 0.7 percentage point, more than any other county.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose in all six of Oregon’s broad regions between November 2017 and November 2018. The largest job gains occurred in Central Oregon (+2.3%). The Willamette Valley (+1.9%), Southern Oregon (+1.4%), the Portland area (+1.3%), the Oregon Coast (+0.8%), and Eastern Oregon (+0.7%) also added jobs.

Press releases for all Oregon areas are available here. 

April 2018 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Wheeler County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 3.0 percent in April 2018. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in April included Benton (3.1%), Gilliam (3.2%), and Hood River (3.2%). Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 7.2 percent.

Twelve of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates at or below the statewide unemployment rate of 4.1 percent. Wheeler County saw its unemployment rate improve over the year by 1.4 percentage points, more than any other county. Klamath County saw its unemployment rate increase the most of any county over the past year, rising 0.5 percentage point to 6.3 percent. 

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose in five of Oregon’s six broad regions between April 2017 and April 2018. The largest job gains occurred in Central Oregon (+2.9%). Southern Oregon (+2.7%), the Willamette Valley (+2.1%), the Portland area (+1.3%), and the Oregon Coast (+1.2%) also added jobs. Eastern Oregon had no growth over the past year.

To learn more about the employment situation for your county, click here. To see the full press release, click here.

March 2018 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Wheeler County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 2.9 percent in March 2018. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in March included Benton (3.1%) and Hood River (3.2%). 

Eastern and Southern Oregon had higher unemployment rates in March 2018, which were still close to their record low unemployment rates since 1990. Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 7.3 percent.

Ten of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates at or below the statewide and national unemployment rate of 4.1 percent. Wheeler County saw its unemployment rate improve over the year by 1.4 percentage points, more than any other county. Josephine County saw its unemployment rate increase the most of any county over the past year, rising 0.8 percentage point to 5.3 percent.

To learn more about the employment situation for your county, click here. To see the full press release, click here.

February 2018 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Wheeler County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 2.8 percent in February 2018. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in February include Gilliam (2.9%) and Benton (3.1%). Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 7.0 percent.

Thirteen of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates at or below the statewide and national unemployment rate of 4.1 percent. Wheeler County saw its unemployment rate improve over the year by 1.6 percentage points, more than any other county. Deschutes County saw its unemployment rate increase the most of any county over the past year, 0.6 percentage point.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose in all of Oregon’s six broad regions between February 2017 and February 2018. The largest job gains occurred in Central Oregon (+3.1%). Southern Oregon (+2.5%), the Willamette Valley (+1.8%), the Portland area (+1.6%), and Eastern Oregon (+1.1%) also saw growth. The Oregon Coast saw a slight job gain of 0.2 percent.

To learn more about the employment situation for your county, click here. To see the full press release, click here.

January 2018 Employment and Unemployment in Oregon’s Counties

Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 2.9 percent in January 2018. Other counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates in January include Wheeler (3.0%) and Hood River (3.2%).

Eastern and Southern Oregon had higher unemployment rates in January 2018, some of which were still at or close to their record low unemployment rates since 1990. Grant County registered the highest unemployment rate for the month at 6.7 percent.

Sixteen of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates at or below the statewide and national unemployment rate of 4.1 percent. Harney County saw its unemployment rate increase over the year by 0.5 percentage point. All other counties in the state saw improvements in the unemployment rate over the past year. Wheeler County improved 1.4 percentage points, more than any other county.

To learn more about the employment situation for your county, click here. To see the full press release, click here.

Wildfires Impact on September Employment Figures

September’s wildfires didn’t seem to have a noticeable impact on the statewide jobs and unemployment rate report. The fires did have a noticeable impact the local job reports in the Columbia Gorge, Central Oregon, and Southern Oregon. Leisure and hospitality businesses in these areas cut a combined 600 more jobs than they usually do in September. This sector includes restaurants, hotels, and other tourism related businesses. Since the wildfires and smoke coincided with the end of the tourism season, it is not possible to fully tell which jobs were lost due to the
unusual wildfires and smoke, and which jobs were cut as the usual tourism season ended.

The wildfires had no effect on unemployment rates in September. In order to be counted as unemployed in the statistics, an individual must not have a job during the reference week (the week of the month containing the 12th, which was September 10-16, 2017), but were available for a job and were making active efforts to find one. Individuals that have jobs but were temporarily absent from their workplace due to wildfires would be considered employed, as would workers whose normal work hours were reduced during the week.

Seasonal wildland firefighter jobs are often outside the scope of the monthly job growth figures. Figures for the increase in wildland firefighter jobs will be available in about three months.

Employment Department regional economists in Central Oregon, the Columbia Gorge, the Portland area, South Coast, and Southern Oregon provided more detailed information about wildfire employment impacts in their areas, which can be found here.

Wildfires Had Little Impact on August Employment Figures

August employment reports for local areas were released on Tuesday, September 19. The reports were released as Oregon rains returned to help put an end to the fire season. However, the employment figures in the report pre-date most of the flare-ups, so wildfires and smoke likely had little impact on the recently released figures. The timing of the wildfires may impact the September employment figures, which will be released on October 17 (statewide only) and October 24 (local areas).

Employment Department regional economists in Central Oregon, the Columbia Gorge, the Portland area, and Southern Oregon provided the following information about wildfire employment impacts in their areas. Central Oregon was the only area with wildfire-related employment impacts in August. Deschutes County’s accommodation and food services industry lost more than 200 jobs in August, a month where tourism usually adds jobs.

The wildfires are expected to have a negative impact on September’s employment in tourism industries. However, these industries typically shed seasonal employment jobs in September. Since the wildfires and smoke coincided with the end of the tourism season, it may not be possible to fully tell which jobs were lost due to the unusual wildfires and smoke, and which jobs were cut as the usual tourism season ended.

Many wildland firefighter jobs are outside the scope of the monthly job growth figures. Data about the increase in wildland firefighter jobs will be available in about four months.

For more details about the employment impact of Oregon's wildfires in Central Oregon, the Columbia Gorge, the Portland Area, and Southern Oregon, read the full article on QualityInfo.

Demographic Challenges for Rural Oregon's Workforce

The Oregon Employment Department recently released a special report entitled The Employment Landscape of Rural Oregon. Our examination of rural Oregon’s employment landscape shows a variety of factors have led to a slower recovery outside metropolitan areas. Demographic trends are among the most striking. Natural population growth is low, in-migration is slow, and young people often leave rural communities to seek educational or employment opportunities in urban centers.

Oregon’s rural communities are growing, just at a much slower pace than in urban centers. Net population change results from the combination of two factors: natural increase or decrease in a population (births minus deaths); and net migration (in-migrants minus out-migrants). In-migration – new residents moving in – accounts for all of the population growth in rural Oregon between 2010 and 2016. Oregon’s 23 rural counties combined actually had a natural decrease, with 400 more deaths than births among residents. In metro counties, natural increase accounted for 33 percent of population gains between 2010 and 2016.

A lack of natural increase alone wouldn’t be troubling for the workforce pipeline in rural areas, so long as in-migration included working adults and children. Between 1995 and 2015, that does not appear to be the trend though. There are more than 35,000 additional workers ages 55 and older in rural Oregon today, an increase of 135 percent. Meanwhile, the rural prime working age and youth workforces are both smaller today than back in 1995.

Rural Oregon is in need of its next generation of leaders and could benefit from finding ways to alleviate the tendency toward aging that is a major challenge in many nonmetro areas. Read more about demographics and the workforce in rural Oregon in the full article at QualityInfo.org.

September Unemployment Rates Lowest in Benton and Hood River Counties

Benton County and Hood River County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in September at 4.5 percent. Grant County (7.9%) registered the highest rate for the month. Eleven of 36 Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates at or below the statewide rate of 5.5 percent, and six were at or below the national rate of 5.0 percent. Douglas County saw its unemployment rate improve over the year by 0.9 percentage point, more than any other county.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose in all of Oregon’s six broad regions between September 2015 and September 2016. The largest job gains occurred in Central Oregon (+5.1%). Southern Oregon (+3.2%), the Willamette Valley (+3.1%), Portland (+2.1%), the Oregon Coast (+2.0%), and Eastern Oregon (+1.6%) also saw growth.

Distilling in Oregon: A Small, Yet Growing Component of the State’s Craft Beverage Industry

When talking about Oregon’s craft beverage industry the conversation typically turns to the myriad of breweries and wineries dispersed across the state. This is for good reason as Oregon is a leader in the craft brewing industry and home to world-class wines. However, distilled beverages are often overlooked. These businesses specializing in the production of spirits or liquor are not particularly large contributors to Oregon’s economy as they are dwarfed by their brewing and winery cousins. Nonetheless, distilled beverages are growing in popularity, which sparked rapid growth in the industry over the past five years.

According to the OLCC, there are over 80 distilling licenses in Oregon. However, a more realistic count of distillers who are actively producing and selling their spirits is closer to 25. In 2015, 22 distilleries employed 219 workers across the state. According to the OLCC, the tax revenue from the sale of distilled spirits was $1.06 billion for the 2013-2015 biennium, which represented a staggering 96 percent of the revenue OLCC collects.

Only about 12 percent of liquor sales in the state were from Oregon distillers. The vast majority of liquor and spirits consumed in Oregon is imported from outside the state. Around 1.1 million gallons of Oregon-made liquor were sold inside the state last year. By far the most purchased Oregon liquor was vodka (40%), followed by whiskey (24%) then rum (15%).

A top 10 list for sales of local distillers in Oregon is a bit deceiving, as the list is completely dominated by Hood River Distillers. The Hood River based distiller sold over 910,000 gallons of liquor in Oregon last year. They produce a variety of brands including HRD, Monarch, Pendleton, and Sinfire, to name a few. The second highest selling local distiller in Oregon was Bendistillery (Crater Lake Spirits), which sold around 47,700 gallons here in Oregon, roughly 5 percent of Hood River Distillers volume sold.

Although Oregon distilleries may not compete with the brewing industry or wineries when looking at jobs or sales, it is growing at a much faster pace than those more well-known craft beverage industries. Expect to see new distilleries arriving soon as the industry is still young and Oregonian’s taste for craft spirits and liquor is on the rise.

To learn more about distilling in Oregon, read Regional Economist Damon Runberg's article "Distilling in Oregon: A Small, Yet Growing Component of the State’s Craft Beverage Industry."

High Labor Force Participation in Portland and the Columbia Gorge

After several years of decline, Oregon's labor force participation rate has stabilized over the past few years, and increased in recent months. Today we're taking a look at the county level to see how labor force participation rates vary across the state.

The labor force consists of two parts: those (ages 16 and up) who are employed, and those who do not have a job but are available to take a job, and have actively searched for one within the past four weeks. The labor force participation rate is the number of people in the labor force as defined above, divided by the total civilian (non-active military duty) noninstitutional (not in prison or the like) population ages 16 and older.

If you select one or more counties in the dynamic graph below, you can see the share of the population participating in the labor force for every year between 2000 and 2015.

In 2015, Hood River posted the highest labor force participation rate (75.5%) of any county in the state. The next-highest participation rates occurred in the Portland area: Washington County's rate was 67.4 percent, and Multnomah's was 66.0 percent. Hood River, Washington, and Multnomah counties also ranked among the top four counties in terms of labor force participation rates in 2000.

Hood River County's LFPR looked essentially the same in 2000 and 2015, but in most counties labor force participation rates dropped notably over the 15-year period. Multnomah County's participation rate fell by 7 percentage points, and Washington County's declined by nearly 10 points. Just three counties recorded higher labor force participation rates in 2015 than in 2000: Malheur, Sherman, and Wheeler.

Although Oregon has seen a recent slowing and even reversal of the falling labor force participation rate, the state's LFPR declined by almost 8 percentage points from 2000 and 2015. In the long term that declining trend is expected to continue, as the bulk of the Baby Boomers reach retirement age. That's paired with historically low labor force participation rates in younger age groups. More information about Oregon's labor force participation rate can be found in the Employment Department's full report on the topic.