Oregon adds nearly 10,000 jobs; most in 20 years

Despite the biggest single month in job growth in nearly two decades, Oregon’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 7 percent in October “because more and more Oregonians are entering the labor force and looking for work,” the state Employment Department reported Tuesday.

Here’s the rest of the state’s news release on the latest job-market figures:

Payroll employment shot up by 9,900 in October. Most major industries added jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis, with three showing solid strength: professional and business services (+2,700 jobs); manufacturing (+2,200); and health care and social assistance (+2,000).

The gain of 9,900 was the largest monthly increase in nearly 20 years. The last time Oregon’s economy added at least this many jobs was in August 1995 , when 10,400 were added.

Payroll employment rose by 800 in September. This was a revision from the originally reported decline of 300 jobs.

Professional and business services accelerated its hiring trend in recent months. Its 2,700-job gain in October was the largest of the major industries. Over the past 12 months it added 12,600 jobs, which is more than one-quarter of all of Oregon’s over-the-year payroll employment gains.

The companies in this broad industry include services firms such as legal, engineering, computer systems design, corporate offices, employment services, business support, and building services.

Two industries within professional and business services grew at especially fast rates over the past year. Employment services, which includes employee leasing and temporary help supply, added 3,700 jobs or 9.9 percent. Services to buildings and dwellings added 1,300 jobs or 6.4 percent.

Manufacturing also performed better than expected in October. Normally, manufacturing would shed 3,600 jobs at this time of year as food manufacturing firms scale back their workforce following the heavy summer harvest season. But in October, manufacturing only shed 1,400 jobs. This translated into a seasonally adjusted gain of 2,200.

Food manufacturing employed 27,700 in October, a drop of 1,200 from September, but a gain of 200 from October 2013 . Many other manufacturing industries were relatively flat, when each would typically see a modest October job decline.

Over the longer term, a few manufacturing industries have grown at a faster rate than the overall economy. In the past 12 months transportation equipment manufacturing added 700 jobs, or 6.5 percent, while wood product manufacturing also added 700 jobs, or 3.3 percent.

Private-sector health care and social assistance added 2,000 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis. Its social assistance component has been growing the fastest over the course of the year, adding 1,800 jobs or 5.3 percent since October 2013 .

The September unemployment rate was also 7 percent, revised from the originally reported 7.1 percent.

Oregon’s unemployment rate has remained in a tight range between 6.8 percent and 7.1 percent since December 2013 .

Another sign of an improving labor market is declining long-term unemployment. The number of Oregonians unemployed for more than 27 weeks declined steadily over the past four years. In October, approximately 33,000 Oregonians had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. That is down from more than 100,000 during much of 2010.

Next Press Releases
The Oregon Employment Department plans to release the October county and metropolitan area unemployment rates on Monday , November 24th and the statewide unemployment rate and employment survey data for November on Tuesday , December 16th .

The Oregon Employment Department is responsible for releasing Oregon’s monthly payroll employment and labor force data. The data are prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS estimates of monthly job gains and losses are based on a survey of businesses. The BLS estimates of unemployment are based on a survey of households and other inputs.

The Oregon Employment Department publishes payroll employment estimates that are revised quarterly by using employment counts from employer unemployment insurance tax records.

All department publications use this official Oregon series data unless noted otherwise. This month’s release incorporates the April, May and June 2014 tax records data. The department continues to make the original nonfarm payroll employment series available; these data are produced by the BLS and are revised annually.