Regional unemployment falls to lowest levels in nine months

   Oregon’s economic recovery may finally be taking hold if you look at the state employment department’s latest estimates for the month of October.  While Oregon’s statewide unemployment figures held steady at 11.3 percent last month, the jobless rates in the state’s three most populace counties fell again to the lowest levels in nine months.

   According to WorkSource Oregon, seasonally-adjusted unemployment rates stood at 10.6 percent in Clackamas, 10.9 percent in Multnomah and 9.7 percent in Washington counties last month, marking the lowest jobless numbers since February.  The figures for Washington County remained a full 1 ½ percent less than the statewide counts and a half point less than the national unemployment estimates which continued to climb in October. 

   Perhaps more importantly, the 9.7 percent estimate for Washington County represents a welcome return to single digit unemployment figures and erases an important psychological barrier to employers’ willingness to hire needed workers when the state economy is mired in double digit job losses.

   In sharp contrast, Harney County continued to lead the state unemployment estimates in October with 19.0 percent of the local workforce unable to find work.  Crook County and Jefferson County in central Oregon were close behind with estimated unemployment rates hovering at 18.1percent and 16.3 percent respectively.  In the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton metropolitan statistical area, unemployment topped 11.6 percent in Yamhill, 13.4 percent in Columbia, and 13.7 percent in Clark County last month.  

   Statewide, an estimated 222,031 Oregonians were out of work in the month of October.  Of these, WorkSource Oregon estimates 40 percent of the state’s unemployed are clustered in the three metropolitan counties, with 20,773 in Clackamas, 41,115 more in Multnomah and 22,960 people looking for work in Washington County.  

   As bad as these numbers are, they represent the lowest numbers since January in Washington County and since February for Multnomah County.  The numbers of unemployed workers actually rose slightly last month in Clackamas and 25 of Oregon’s 36 counties.

Current economic and demographic indicators for the tri-county metropolitan region