Economist: Central Oregon jobless rates stabilize
Central Oregon’s unemployment levels stabilized in August following several months of increases, a state Employment Department regional economist said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, hiring patterns in Central Oregon were fairly consistent with seasonal norms, said Regional Economist Damon Runberg.
On a different note, Runberg noted that the Bureau of Economic Analysis just released the 2015 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures. The Bend-Redmond Metro Area (Deschutes County) GDP rose by $425 million in 2015 (+6.9%), the eighth- fastest rate of GDP growth of all 382 metro areas.
The county-by-county breakdown:
Crook County: The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 7.5 percent in August from 7.3 percent in July (not a statistically significant increase). The rate is down significantly from last year when it was 8.5 percent.
Crook County added 80 jobs in August, which is fairly typical for this time of year. Local construction firms posted strong job gains in August, adding 30 jobs.
The recovery is gaining momentum in Crook County. The rate of job growth over the past year (+5.1%) was among the fastest in the state. The county added 290 jobs from last August. The vast majority of those jobs were in construction and the leisure and hospitality sector, each up 120 jobs from August 2015. Private-sector losses were limited to manufacturing (-80 jobs).
Deschutes County (Bend-Redmond MSA): The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.4 percent in August following two consecutive months of increases. The rate is down from last year when it was 6 percent. However, this is not a statistically significant decline.
The county shed around 300 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in August. These monthly losses are not particularly concerning after the strong seasonally adjusted gain of 490 jobs in July. Declines were concentrated in manufacturing (-110); leisure and hospitality (-90); and retail (-70). It looks like the tourism industry peaked in July for this summer season.
There were over 3,900 more jobs in August compared to the same time last year (+5.1%). Employment gains continue to be fairly diverse with professional and business services (+1,080) and mining, logging, and construction (+1,010) leading the way. Private sector losses were limited to financial activities (-280); durable goods manufacturing (-110); and information (-90).
Jefferson County: Seasonally adjusted unemployment was little changed in August at 7.1 percent from 7 percent in July. The rate was 7.5 percent last August.
Jefferson County shed 110 jobs in August, typical losses for this time of year. Most losses were concentrated in Indian Tribal (-100) with a few small losses in educational and health services (-20).
There are around 120 more jobs in Jefferson County compared to August 2015 (+1.9%). Industry employment gains were concentrated in private education and health services (+40); retail trade (+30); and Indian Tribal (+30). There were some minor losses in manufacturing, shedding 20 jobs from last year.
