Oregon lost another 4,300 jobs in June, more than double the number of jobs lost the prior month.
It’s the latest worrisome sign for the state’s sagging labor market and the near-term outlook is poor, with thousands of Intel layoffs taking effect later this summer.
Oregon has added just 8,700 jobs over the past 12 months, according to the state data.
“That’s a growth rate of 0.4%. That’s really slow by historical standards,” said Gail Krumenauer, economist with the Oregon Employment Department.
“We’re also seeing that job growth remains highly concentrated and not broad based across Oregon’s economy,” she said.
The services, manufacturing and hospitality sectors are struggling the most, each shedding a little more than 1,000 jobs last month.
No industry added that many jobs but health care performed the best, expanding by 900 jobs in June.
June’s unemployment rate climbed to 4.9%, according to data out Wednesday from the Oregon Employment Department.
That’s just a slight increase from May but it extends a trend of rising joblessness that dates back more than two years, when unemployment was 3.6%. The national unemployment rate was 4.2% last month.
State economists are increasingly glum about Oregon’s outlook because the state seems to be performing worse than the nation and because Oregon faces significant headwinds.
Intel notified state workforce officials last week that it plans to lay off nearly 2,400 Oregon workers in July and told local elected leaders that it expects more cuts in the weeks ahead.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.