Oregon’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.0% in April, down from 4.4% in March. For the past 21 months since August 2021, Oregon’s unemployment rate has remained relatively steady and near historic lows. The unemployment rate averaged 4.2% in that time, while ranging between 3.5% and 4.8%. The U.S. unemployment rate was 3.4% in April and 3.5% in March.
In April, Oregon’s seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1,600 jobs, following a revised gain of 1,300 jobs in March. In April, gains were largest in other services (+1,700 jobs) and health care and social assistance (+900). Declines were largest in construction (-1,000 jobs) and manufacturing (-600). Since April 2022, Oregon has added 38,400 nonfarm payroll jobs (+2.0%).
Other services is an industry made up of a variety of service establishments, such as repair, maintenance, laundry, religious organizations, and social advocacy organizations. Employment in this broad industry rose to 66,000 in April, reaching a record high, and for the first time surpassing its prepandemic peak of 65,500 in February 2020. Other services employment has recovered at a fairly steady pace over the past two and a half years.
Health care and social assistance continued its recent rapid expansion. It added 11,500 jobs (+4.3%) during the past 12 months, which was the most jobs added of the major industries in that time. Social assistance, at 73,400 jobs in April, expanded rapidly in recent months, adding 7,300 jobs since April 2022. Nursing and residential care facilities also grew rapidly, adding 2,800 jobs in that time.
Both durable goods manufacturing and nondurable goods manufacturing have cut slightly more than 1,000 jobs each in the first four months of the year. Durable goods industries declining in that time include computer and electronic products, wood products, fabricated metal products, and transportation equipment. Within nondurable goods, food manufacturing has cut jobs this year, and is down 1,000 jobs since April 2022.
Next Press Releases
The Oregon Employment Department plans to release the April county and metropolitan area unemployment rates on Tuesday, May 23, and the next statewide unemployment rate and employment survey data for May on Wednesday, June 14.
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| Notes: All numbers in the above narrative are seasonally adjusted except for the components of health care and social assistance and manufacturing. 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. In addition, data for July through September 2022 were revised by a total of up to 1,300 jobs per month. 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 spokenlanguage 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 [email protected].