April 14, 2020 10:30 a.m. 
Oregon’s unemployment rate for March is 3.3 percent, but the Oregon Employment Department said the data does not reflect the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labor market.
An OED release said the data was collected prior to public health measures related to when social distancing began on March 17th. The release said its expected that the April data will show the early effects on employment and the unemployment rate in Oregon.
That 3.3 percent rate is the same as it was in January and February as well. The monthly unemployment rate is always based on a person’s employment status for the week that includes the 12th of each month. In general, if a person works for even part of the reference week, then they are counted as employed. The data shows that there were 69,400 unemployed Oregonians, which remained near the lowest number in more than 40 years.
Total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 4,800 jobs in March, following a gain of 2,000 jobs in February. Three major industries lost at least 1,000 jobs in March. That included leisure and hospitality where 2,000 jobs were lost, retail trade which lost 1,700 and private educational services, which lost 1,000 jobs. Only one industry gained a substantial number of jobs in March. That was construction which posted a gain of 900 jobs.
The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 4.4 percent in March, showing the leading edge of job losses related to the pandemic as closures began to take hold around the country.