The Oregon unemployment news today was bad. The state is once again dealing with the fallout from the recession, and this time it’s been even worse than first predicted.
The Oregon unemployment rate is now as low as 1.8% for the first time ever. It’s a sad day when people that are supposed to be hiring can’t find a job, and they’re not even bothering to look for jobs.
This is not the first time that Oregon has had a terrible unemployment rate, but the most recent number is still somewhat concerning. Since the recession began a couple of years ago, the Oregon unemployment rate has consistently been around the 1.0% mark, though it’s currently at 1.8%. The number of unemployed is up nearly 7% for this year, and is expected to stay around that level for the next two months at least.
Oregon is one of the top-5 states for the percentage of people unemployed, so it’s not just a one-time thing. But the state’s unemployment rate is the highest, and the unemployment rate for the last several years is the highest in the nation. In fact, this is the sixth straight year that Oregon has had the highest percentage of unemployed and the second-highest percentage of people without a job for a year consecutively.
Oregon is one of the state with the highest unemployment rate. And it’s been a problem for a while. The Oregon economy boomed after the 2008 economic crisis, but lately it’s been hard hit by a recession, and the state unemployment rate has been the highest in the nation. In fact, this is the sixth straight year that Oregon has had the highest percentage of unemployed and the second-highest percentage of people without a job for a year consecutively.
Oregon is one of only two states in the nation where unemployment is higher during the month of January than the month of February. That’s because the entire month is considered a lost month (for people without jobs). That’s when we’re supposed to be looking to improve our economic situation rather than waiting around for a raise or retirement funds.
The year is not the only reason Oregon has among its lowest unemployment rates. Oregon’s jobless rate is actually worse than the national level. It’s the third-lowest for Oregon, which is just one of the reasons the state is so attractive to people who want to live in a place where they can be the part of the workforce and not have to do all the work.
For those who think that jobs are one of the reasons for Oregon’s low unemployment rate, think again. Only about 3 percent of our population has a job right now. This is not because of population decline, but rather because the state has a low labor force participation rate. As a result, the number of people with jobs is lower than the number of people with jobs.
For example, in my local area you can’t find a single person in any of the 50 or so counties that I work in. In fact, there are only a handful of people working in any given county at any given time. I’m not sure why that is, but I suspect that if you removed those people whose jobs were being eliminated from the statistics, the unemployment rate would get even higher.
A lot of people don’t know that unemployment rates vary by county. Oregon is one of the states that has no state unemployment statistics. I believe that Oregon’s unemployment rate is about 3 percent, so it is lower than most states. The Oregon Employment Department provides the statistics for the state at any given time.
