State Unemployment Drops Back Below 8%

Despite Oregon's slight reduction in unemployment rate last month, the March payroll employment figures show Oregon has been slow in seeing signs of an economic rebound, according to the Oregon Employment Department. In March, total nonfarm payroll employment rose less than expected, gaining only 7,000 jobs when a gain of 8,400 jobs would be expected for the time of year. The manufacturing sector continued to shed jobs, dropping 1,000 in March. Construction and public utilities also showed weakness last month. On the up side, retail trade posted 900 more jobs than normally can be expected for March.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Oregon's payroll employment has now declined for 16 consecutive months. It declined by 1,400 jobs in March following a revised loss of only 100 jobs in February. The March decline indicates that Oregon's economy has yet to start an earnest recovery following the first national recession in a decade, according to OED. While job declines continue, the rate of decline has slowed this year. In the past three months, seasonally adjusted employment has declined by an average of 1,300 jobs per month. During the prior 13 months of this economic contraction losses averaged 3,000 jobs per month.