Oregon’s unemployment rate was down one-tenth of a percentage point in December, falling from 4.2% in November to 4.1%.
The monthly decline in the statewide rate was the 20th in a row, according to a news release from the Oregon Employment Department.
Oregon’s nonfarm payroll employment grew by 8,200 jobs in December. The industries seeing the most gains were leisure and hospitality with 2,600 jobs added, health care and social assistance with 1,200 added, manufacturing with 900 added, and professional and business services with 900 added.
“None of the major industries had a big drop in jobs during December,” the news release said.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell from 4.2% in November to 3.9% in December.
In Oregon, leisure and hospitality previously gained 3,700 jobs in November, but the industry still includes “a large share” of jobs statewide that haven’t recovered since early 2020, the news release said.
Employers would need to hire 23,200 employees to reach employment levels seen in Feb. 2020. Leisure and hospitality has recovered 79% of jobs lost early in the pandemic.
Manufacturing has steadily recovered over the past year and a half, adding 1,000 jobs in November. Most jobs added recently have come in nondurable goods manufacturing including food manufacturing, which employed 28,700 people in December, “a level close to each of the four Decembers prior to the recession,” the news release said.
Administrative and waste services has averaged 1,400 new jobs monthly over the past four months. Temporary help supply and employee leasing firms are in high demand with employee services adding 9,500 jobs. Meanwhile, business support services has steadily dropped over the past six years from from 16,000 jobs to 9,900 in December 2021. “Reductions within the category were concentrated in telephone call centers, and to a lesser extent, copy shops,” the news release said.
-Ardeshir Tabrizian
