May 19, 2022 3:40 a.m.

Oregon’s unemployment rate edged down to 3.7 percent in April, from 3.8 percent in March.

A release from the Oregon Employment Department said that is the lowest level in more than two years. The rate is now close to Oregon’s record low of 3.4 percent which occurred in each of the four months between November of 2019 through February of 2020.

OED said throughout the past two years, Oregon and the nation have experienced similar trends as their economies and labor markets have recovered from the pandemic recession. Both saw their unemployment rates spike to unusual highs of more than thirteen percent by April 2020, followed by a drop to below seven percent six months later. For the past twenty-one months, Oregon’s unemployment rate has been within a half percentage point of the U.S. unemployment rate.

The release said payroll employment trends have also been similar for Oregon and the U.S., with both losing roughly fourteen percent of payroll jobs between February and April 2020, then recovering roughly a third of those jobs three months later, followed by a more gradual recovery leading up to April 2022. However, Oregon has slightly tagged the U.S. jobs recovery overall, with the U.S. adding back ninety-five percent of jobs lost during the pandemic-induced recession, while Oregon has only recovered eighty-eight percent of the jobs.

OED said in April, Oregon’s seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment rose by 4,200 jobs, following a revised gain of 7,000 jobs in March. Over-the-month gains were largest in health care and social assistance which added 1,800 jobs. Manufacturing and the business and professional services categories each gained 1,300 jobs. The only major industry to cut at least 1,000 jobs was the other services category.

Jobs in the professional and business services category have grown rapidly and consistently over the past two years. In April, employment reached 261,700, another record high for the industry. Recent revisions to the job tallies boosted the past six months’ employment upward by about 3,000 above original estimates.

The U.S. unemployment rate was 3.6 percent in both March and April 2022.