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Salem’s March unemployment rates lowest since pandemic began

Salem’s unemployment rate in March was its lowest since the pandemic began, falling from 4% in February to 3.8%.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, which doesn’t include impacts from seasonal patterns, has been declining since May 2021 when it was at 5.8%, according to state Employment Department data.

The last time Salem’s unemployment rate was below 4% was March 2020, when it was 3.9%. That figure skyrocketed the next month to 11.6% as businesses rapidly shed workers in response to stay-at-home orders and economic uncertainty.

The statewide unemployment rate has seen a similar decline, also falling from 4% in February to 3.8% in March.

Oregon’s seasonally adjusted rate has been declining since it reached 6.1% in March 2021. The last time the rate was below 4% was also March 2020, when it was 3.5%. It rose to 13.3% the next month.

Last month, the state’s seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment added 5,600 jobs, having added 9,700 in February, according to a Wednesday employment department news release.

The largest growth was 1,500 new jobs in construction and 1,400 in financial activities. The department also reported 900 new jobs in leisure and hospitality, 900 in other services, 800 in manufacturing and 700 in government.

Professional and business services was the only major industry that cut a significant number, losing 900 jobs.

The 1,400 new jobs in financial activities were in real estate rental and leasing, “boosted by the hot real estate sector,” the news release said.

-Ardeshir Tabrizian