C. Oregon jobless rates up, despite strong job growth

Unemployment levels are on the rise across Central Oregon, following the statewide trend over the past few months, but job gains also are up significantly from a year ago, the state Employment Department reported Tuesday.

Hiring was fairly consistent, the agency said, with typical seasonal changes in July. However, job growth in Central Oregon over the past year continues to be among the fastest of any region in the state.

“Jobs increased this month, along with employment in Central Oregon,” said state economist Will Burchard. “But since the number of unemployed persons increased too, the unemployment rate went up.”

“We have evidence from our statewide numbers that suggests a good chunk of these unemployed are either entering or returning to the workforce,” he said. “And, given the strong growth in Central Oregon over the year, they should have opportunities to find the work they’re looking for.”

Here’s the rest of the report:

Crook County: The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 8.6 percent in July from 8.2 percent in June. The rate remains down significantly from last year, when it was 9.8 percent.

Crook County shed 70 jobs in July, more than the loss of 30 more typical of this time of year. These monthly losses were primarily concentrated in local government due to educators going on summer break, the state reported.

Total nonfarm employment remained essentially unchanged from last year (-10 jobs). Losses in manufacturing continue to be a drag on Crook County’s recovery (-210).

But growth in other private-sector industries nearly made up for these manufacturing losses. The largest gains were seen in leisure and hospitality (+70); retail trade (+60); construction (+30); and educational and health services (+30).

Deschutes County (Bend-Redmond MSA): The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.6 percent in July, up from 6.2 percent in June. The rate remains down significantly from this time last year, when it was 7.9 percent.

Deschutes County shed 50 jobs from June, a bit more than the expected loss of 30 jobs this time of year.

Seasonal declines in local education headlined monthly losses (-1,340). Tourism-related businesses continued to post strong monthly job gains, despite being in the heart of the summer tourism season.

The number of jobs in Deschutes County was up significantly from last July (+3,810). This strong job growth can largely be credited to gains in health care, tourism, construction, local government, and the financial sector.

Jefferson County: The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent from 6.7 percent in June. However, the rate was down significantly from 9.0 percent last July.

Jefferson County shed 40 jobs in July, a larger loss than the 10 jobs typically lost from June.

Jefferson County continues to be one of the highest0performing rural counties. It added 400 jobs from last July, a growth rate of 6.5 percent.

“We are beginning to see job growth extend to a variety of industries,” Burchard said. “Manufacturing continues to be a major contributor to job growth, but we are also seeing strong growth in construction, health care and tourism.”

Around the state, Hood River County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in July, at 4.7 percent. Curry County (8.8%) registered the highest rate for the month.

Ten of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates at or below the statewide rate of 5.9 percent, and seven were at or below the national rate of 5.5 percent. Harney and Wallowa counties saw the largest improvement in their unemployment rates over the year, with drops of 2.4 percentage points.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose in all of Oregon’s six broad regions between July 2014 and July 2015. The largest job gains occurred in Central Oregon (3.8%). Portland (+2.9%), the Willamette Valley (+2.8%), the Oregon Coast (2.7%), Southern Oregon (+2.3%), and Eastern Oregon (1.9%) also saw growth.

Next Press Releases

The Oregon Employment Department plans to release the August county and metropolitan area unemployment rates on Tuesday, September 22 nd and the statewide unemployment rate and employment survey data on Tuesday, September 15 th .