Oregon’s jobless rate is up – but so is job growth

Oregon’s unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent in June, up from May’s rate of 4.5 percent, but that’s largely due to a surge in the state’s labor force, the state Employment Department reported Tuesday.

Here’s the rest of the agency’s news release, in full:

One significant factor in the rise of the unemployment rate was a large increase in Oregon’s labor force, which reached an all-time high of 2,053,000. Despite the increase in June, Oregon’s unemployment rate remained significantly lower than the June 2015 rate of 5.8 percent.

Oregon’s 4.8 percent unemployment rate in June remained close to the national unemployment rate of 4.9 percent. Like Oregon, the U.S. rate also increased in June, rising from 4.7 percent in May.

Oregon’s payroll employment added 3,000 jobs in June after a revised gain of 2,500 in May. Private educational services added 1,700 jobs, while professional and business services added 1,400.

Meanwhile, several industries each added between 500 and 900: government (+900 jobs), retail trade (+700), construction (+600) and wholesale trade (+500). Leisure and hospitality cut 1,000 jobs in June, while three other industries each cut at least 600 jobs: health care and social assistance (-900 jobs), financial activities (-700) and manufacturing (-600).

Taking a longer-term view, payroll employment grew by 59,500 jobs since June 2015 . The resulting over-the-year job growth rate was 3.3 percent in Oregon, much faster than the national job growth rate of 1.7 percent. Oregon’s over-the-year job growth has consistently outpaced the nation since 2013.

Next Press Releases
The Oregon Employment Department plans to release the June county and metropolitan area unemployment rates on Tuesday , July 26th , and the next statewide unemployment rate and employment survey data for July on Tuesday , August 16th.

Notes:
All numbers in the above narrative are seasonally adjusted.

The Oregon Employment Department and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) work cooperatively to develop and publish monthly Oregon payroll employment and labor force data. The estimates of monthly job gains and losses are based on a survey of businesses. The estimates of unemployment are based on a survey of households and other sources.

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 October, November and December 2015 tax records data. The department continues to make the original nonfarm payroll employment series available; these data are produced by the BLS.