A construction crew works on the street outside of the Nishioka building site in downtown Salem. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
As Oregon’s economy continues on the path to reopening, one industry has largely recovered from the pandemic: construction.
Numbers released by the Oregon Employment Department earlier this week show that the state’s construction industry reached a near-record high in recent months, employing 110,000 workers.
According to the department, the number of jobs dropped to about 100,000 in April 2020 following the initial pandemic shutdown. The industry has been steadily adding back jobs between 2013 through 2019 after a slump caused by the 2008 recession, according to the department.
The Salem area has followed a similar trajectory. There were 12,900 construction jobs in the Salem area as of April, according to the most recently available Employment Department numbers. That’s up 11,600 from a year ago.
-Jake Thomas