In Oregon, nonfarm payroll employment grew by 8,700 in June, following gains averaging 6,200 jobs in the prior seven months. Monthly gains in June were largest in construction (+2,800 jobs), other services (+1,600), health care and social assistance (+1,300), and leisure and hospitality (+1,300 jobs). Government (-600 jobs) was the only major industry that shed a substantial number of jobs.
As of June, Oregon has regained 94% of jobs lost at the onset of the pandemic. The U.S. has regained 98%. Oregon’s private sector is close to a full jobs recovery, having regained 98% of pandemic recession losses.
Construction employment rose rapidly over the past 12 months, reaching a record of 118,700 jobs in June, well above the pre-pandemic peak of 112,300 in February 2020. Since June 2021, construction added 8,700 jobs, or 7.9%, faster growth than the private-sector gain of 5.2%. All construction industries grew rapidly over the past 12 months, with several growing by double-digits: building finishing contractors (+13.2%), building equipment contractors (+11.5%), heavy and civil engineering construction (+10.8%), and specialty trade contractors (+10.7%).
Leisure and hospitality rapidly added jobs this year and last year. It added 28,500 jobs, or 16.4%, since June 2021. Despite these gains, leisure and hospitality still accounts for a large share of the jobs Oregon has not recovered since early 2020, with 14,600 jobs left to recover to reach the prior peak month of February 2020. The industry has regained 87% of jobs lost early in the pandemic.
Health care and social assistance added jobs rapidly throughout the first half of this year—gaining 7,900 jobs through June—following a stagnant period throughout 2021. Most of the gains were seen in ambulatory health care services, which added 4,000 jobs during the first six months of this year, and in social assistance, which added 2,400 jobs.
Oregon’s unemployment rate of 3.6% in June was essentially unchanged from 3.5%, as revised, in May. Oregon’s unemployment rate has been below 4.0% for the past four months. The U.S. unemployment rate was 3.6% in March, April, May, and June.
Next Press Releases
The Oregon Employment Department plans to release the June county and metropolitan area unemployment rates on Tuesday, July 26, and the next statewide unemployment rate and employment survey data for July on Wednesday, August 17.
Notes:
All numbers in the above narrative are seasonally adjusted, except for the component industries within construction and health care and social assistance.
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 2021 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, then within the top banner, select Economic Data, then choose LAUS or CES. 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 Oregon.gov/employ.
The Oregon Employment Department (OED) is an equal opportunity agency. Everyone has a right to use OED programs and services. OED provides free help. Some examples are: Sign language and spoken language interpreters, written materials in other languages, braille, large print, audio and other formats. If you need help, please call 971-673-6400. TTY users call 711. You can also ask for help at OED_Communications@employ.oregon.gov.
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