Governor Says Oregon's Job Growth on the Right Track

Oregon's seasonally adjusted job gain was 4,200 in May and 6,200 in April.

Oregon’s economy continued to grow in May, with gains in industries such as construction, leisure and hospitality, and health care. Photo: Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore. ) - Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber on Tuesday released the following statement on the Oregon Employment Department’s latest numbers for the state labor market.

The Department announced that Oregon’s unemployment rate was holding steady at 6.9 percent and that the state gained 4,200 jobs in May and 6,200 in April.

Oregon’s economy continued to grow in May, with gains in industries such as construction, leisure and hospitality, and health care.

“Oregon’s economic recovery continues, with 11 straight months of job gains. Our unemployment rate reflects more people re-entering the labor market. While Tuesday's news is good, we have more to do to ensure that all Oregonians, regardless of their zip code, have an equal opportunity for economic prosperity.”

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data):

Job growth has been strong and continuous for the past 11 months.

Oregon's seasonally adjusted job gain was 4,200 in May and 6,200 in April. Leisure and hospitality (+2,300 jobs), retail trade (+1,200), and other services (+1,100) all added more than a thousand jobs in May.

Other services includes repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services, and member associations and organizations, including religious organizations.

Financial activities was the only major sector without a jobs recovery. It employed 91,000 in May, a level that hasn't changed much in the past four years. The real estate component is adding jobs, but banking and insurance are seeing little to no growth.

In the Past 12 months, Job Growth Has Accelerated:

Oregon's private-sector businesses have grown by 41,000 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis since May 2013. This is a growth rate of 3.0 percent.

Job gains have been broad based as most of the major industries have grown by close to 3 percent as well. The primary exception to the upside is construction, which has grown by 10.5 percent, or 7,800 jobs, during that time.

To the downside, only two major industries have shown slight losses over the year: financial activities is down 0.1 percent ( 100 jobs) and transportation, warehousing and utilities dropped 1.5 percent (-800 jobs). Government has grown slowly overall and is up 0.9 percent (+2,600 jobs).

Unemployment (Household Survey Data):

Oregon's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.9 percent in May and 6.8 percent, as revised, in April. Oregon's unemployment rate has been between 6.8 and 7.0 percent for each of the first five months of the year.

Fewer people are working part time when they would rather be working full time. This indication within data from the household survey is good news for the tens of thousands of Oregonians who, due to the recovering economy, were only able to find part-time employment when they wanted to work full time.

Oregon's U-6 measure of labor underutilization, which includes the unemployed, the marginally attached, and workers who are working part time for economic reasons, fell to 13.4 percent in May because the number of part-time workers for economic reasons has fallen over the past three months.

This measure of labor hardship has dropped substantially since May 2013 when Oregon's U-6 was 16.0 percent.