Oregon jobless rate falls to 3.5% in June, fifth straight drop; nearing record low

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Oregon’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.5% in June, down from 3.7% in May, the Oregon Employment Department reported Wednesday. It's the fifth consecutive monthly decline in the state's unemployment rate, down from a recent high of 4.8% in January.

The June rate was near Oregon’s record low of 3.4%, which was reached in November and December 2019. The U.S. unemployment rate was 3.6% in June 2023, which was very close to Oregon’s June rate.

In June, Oregon’s seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment rose by 5,700 jobs, following a revised gain of 4,200 jobs in May. June’s job gain was the largest monthly increase since January, when 9,600 jobs were added.

Over-the-month job gains were largest in government (+2,400 jobs); other services (+1,800); leisure and hospitality (+1,600); and professional and business services (+1,500). Declines were largest in wholesale trade (-1,300 jobs); transportation, warehousing, and utilities (-1,000); and manufacturing (-1,000).

Payroll employment grew by 2.3% over the past 12 months. Over-the-year job growth decelerated to about 2% in the past five months from 12-month growth rates that were above 3% during the economic recovery period, which included much of the prior two years.

Since June 2022, several industries have continued to expand rapidly, while others have been relatively flat or declining. Construction, which added 6,500 jobs, or 5.7%, grew at one of the fastest rates of the major industries. In addition, the following three major industries each expanded by close to 4%, while adding close to 10,000 jobs each: leisure and hospitality; health care and social assistance; and government. However, a few industries cut jobs by about 2,000 each in the past 12 months, including manufacturing (-1.1%); wholesale trade (-1.9%); and transportation, warehousing, and utilities (-3.0%).

Next Press Releases

The Oregon Employment Department plans to release the June county and metropolitan area unemployment rates on Tuesday, July 25, and the next statewide unemployment rate and employment survey data for July on Wednesday, Aug 16.

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 2022 tax records data. The department continues to make the original nonfarm payroll employment series available; these data are produced by the BLS.
 

The PDF version of the news release can be found at QualityInfo.org/press-release. To obtain the data in other formats such as in Excel, visit QualityInfo.org, select Tools, then choose LAUS or CES under the Economy header. To request the press release as a Word document, contact the person shown at the top of this press release.

To file a claim for unemployment benefits or get more information about unemployment programs, visit unemployment.oregon.gov.

The Oregon Employment Department (OED) is an equal opportunity agency. OED provides free help so you can use our services. Some examples are sign language and spoken-language interpreters, written materials in other languages, large print, audio, and other formats. To get help, please call 503-947-1444. TTY users call 711. You can also send an email to communications@employ.oregon.gov.

El Departamento de Empleo de Oregon (OED) es una agencia de igualdad de oportunidades. El OED proporciona ayuda gratuita para que usted pueda utilizar nuestros servicios. Algunos ejemplos son intérpretes de lengua de señas e idiomas hablados, materiales escritos en otros idiomas, letra grande, audio y otros formatos. Para obtener ayuda, por favor llame al 503-947-1444. Usuarios de TTY pueden llamar al 711. También puede enviar un correo electrónico a communications@employ.oregon.gov.