Central Oregon jobless rates hold steady as 2025 ends; region added 1,560 jobs over the past year
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Central Oregon's seasonally adjusted unemployment rates saw very little movement from November to December, holding steady inDeschutes and Crook counties and falling slightly in Jefferson County, the state Employment Department reported Tuesday.
Here's the agency's complete regional report:
Bend MSA (Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties): The Bend MSA’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged over the month, at 5.0%. Last year in December, the unemployment rate was 4.3%, or 0.7 percentage point lower.
The Bend MSA lost 180 jobs in December, a -0.2% decrease ,with the largest losses concentrated in leisure and hospitality (-190 jobs). Accommodation and food services lost 130 jobs, and professional and business services dropped 170. Smaller losses also occurred in other services (-30 jobs), government (-30 jobs), and private education and health services (-20 jobs). Losses in the public sector occurred in local government (-70 jobs) and state government (-10 jobs).
Public-sector gains were registered in federal government (+50 jobs). Private-sector gains were concentrated in trade, transportation, and utilities (+180 jobs) with retail trade gaining the most jobs (+130 jobs). Smaller private-sector gains occurred in the information industry (+40 jobs); manufacturing (+20 jobs); financial activities (+10 jobs); and mining, logging, and construction (+10 jobs).
Total nonfarm employment increased by 1.4% (+1,560 jobs) from December 2024 to December 2025.
Over the year, private job gains were seen in leisure and hospitality (+500 jobs); private education and health services (+440 jobs); mining, logging, and construction (+360 jobs); and other services (+250 jobs). Within leisure and hospitality, accommodation and food services gained 690 jobs.
Private-sector losses were as widespread as gains but not as large, occurring in information (-350 jobs); professional and business services (-150 jobs); manufacturing (-100 jobs); financial activities (-80 jobs); and trade, transportation, and utilities (-40 jobs). Within manufacturing, durable goods lost 150 jobs, slightly offset by a gain of 50 jobs elsewhere in the industry for a net loss of 100 jobs. Similarly, within the trade, transportation, and utilities sector, retail trade gained 290 jobs, but these gains were outweighed by larger losses, resulting in a net decline.
The public sector gained 730 jobs over the year, with all gains occurring at the local government level (+820 jobs), while public-sector losses were minimal and seen in state government (-60 jobs) and federal government (-30 jobs).
Crook County: The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.9% in December 2025, up 0.8 percentage point from the previous year and unchanged from November to December. Outside of the pandemic recession, the last time the unemployment rate was 5.9% was in 2016.
Crook County lost 60 jobs (-0.8%) over the month. Losses were concentrated within mining, logging, and construction (-30 jobs); leisure and hospitality (-20 jobs); private education and health services (-10 jobs); and trade, transportation, and utilities (-10 jobs). Within the mining, logging, and construction industry, all losses occurred in construction, while in trade, transportation, and utilities, all losses occurred in wholesale trade. Public-sector employment stayed steady with federal government gains (+20 jobs) offset by local government losses (-20 jobs). Private-sector gains were minimal and occurred in the manufacturing industry (+10 jobs). All other major industries saw little to no change over the month.
Over the past year, the county lost 330 jobs (-4.3%). Losses were concentrated within the information industry (-270 jobs) and mostly occurred due to a change in the way the data was reported. Otherwise, losses occurred in government (-50 jobs); professional and business services (-40 jobs); trade, transportation, and utilities (-30 jobs); private education and health services (-30 jobs); and financial activities (-10 jobs).
Over the year job gains were not as widespread and were concentrated in leisure and hospitality (+50 jobs); other services (+30 jobs); and mining, logging, and construction (+20 jobs).
Deschutes County: The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.9% in December 2025, and like Crook County, unchanged over the month. In December 2024, it was 4.1%. Outside of the pandemic recession, the last time it was 4.9% was in 2016 and it remains 1.6 percentage points above its record low of 3.3% before the onset of the pandemic.
Deschutes County lost 50 jobs (-0.1%) from November to December, with the largest losses occurring in professional and business services (-160 jobs) and leisure and hospitality (-140 jobs). Smaller but notable losses also occurred in the public sector (-30 jobs) and other services (-20 jobs). Within the public sector, losses were concentrated at the local and state level (-50 and -10 jobs, respectively), but federal government gained 30 jobs offsetting some of the losses.
Private-sector job gains were concentrated within trade, transportation, and utilities (+210 jobs) with the majority of gains taking place in retail trade (+150 jobs). Other losses occurred in mining, logging, and construction (+40 jobs); information (+40 jobs); and financial activities (+10 jobs).
Total nonfarm employment increased by 2.1% (+2,050 jobs) from December 2024 to December 2025. Over the year, private job gains were seen in private education and health services (+520 jobs); leisure and hospitality (+390 jobs); mining, logging, and construction (+300 jobs); and other services (+110 jobs). Smaller gains were also seen in manufacturing (+30 jobs). Over the year, private-sector losses were concentrated in information (-80 jobs); financial activities (-60 jobs); and trade, transportation, and utilities (-20 jobs).
The public sector gained 860 jobs over the year, with all gains occurring at the local government level (+930 jobs). Federal government employment decreased by 40 jobs over the year while state government employment was down 30 jobs.
Jefferson County: The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.8% in December 2025, down from 5.9% in November and up 1.2 percentage points from December 2024. Like the other two counties, the last time the unemployment rate was this high, outside of the pandemic recession, was 2016. Shortly before the first impacts from COVID-19 were felt the rate was 4.3%.
Total nonfarm employment decreased by 70 jobs (-1.1%) over the month of December. Although per‑industry losses were modest, they were widespread affecting leisure and hospitality (-20 jobs); professional and business services (-20 jobs); other services (-10 jobs); private education and health services (-10 jobs); trade, transportation, and utilities (-10 jobs); and government (-10 jobs). Within the public sector all losses occurred at the state level. Similarly, within trade, transportation, and utilities all losses took place in retail trade. Gains were minimal and concentrated in manufacturing (+10 jobs). Very little movement was seen otherwise with little to no change in all other industries.
Jefferson County’s total nonfarm employment decreased by 180 jobs over the past year (-2.7%). Gains were concentrated within one private-sector industry, other services (+30 jobs). Losses were spread across more industries, with the largest losses occurring in manufacturing (-70 jobs); professional and business services (-50 jobs); government (-30 jobs); trade, transportation, and utilities (-20 jobs); and private education and health services (-20 jobs). Smaller but notable losses occurred in leisure and hospitality (-10 jobs); and mining, logging, and construction, specifically mining and logging (-10 jobs). All other industries saw little or no change year-over-year.
Next Press Releases
The Oregon Employment Department has yet to receive an updated release schedule from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The January 2026 data would typically be released in March. We are awaiting notification from the BLS regarding publication dates for the rest of the year and will update our schedule of future releases as dates become available.
