December 18, 2019 3:35 a.m.
Oregon’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent in November, the lowest rate since comparable records began in 1976.
Data from the Oregon Employment Department said the October rate was 4.0 percent, revised down from the originally reported figure of 4.1 percent.
Economist David Cooke said the new state rate is slightly above the U.S. rate for November which sat at 3.5 percent. Oregon’s unemployment rate has been hovering near historical lows of 4 percent for the past 37 months.
Total nonfarm payroll employment shot up by 6,300 jobs in November, following an upwardly revised gain of 6,500 jobs in October. October was revised upward by 2,100 jobs.
So far this year, monthly employment gains have averaged 2,600 jobs, which is slightly lower than in 2018 when monthly growth averaged 3,000 jobs.
Cooke said the tight labor market and perhaps the unusually mild and dry weather in November, seems to have influenced seasonal trends in major industries. He said industries that normally shed a lot of workers during the autumn months, didn’t cut back as much as normal. Construction, manufacturing and professional and business services each cut back less than normal and therefore posted seasonally adjusted job gains of 2,200, 1,900 and 1,400 respectively.
Cooke said on the flip side, the labor market may have inhibited certain industries from hiring as many workers as normal in November. Government and retail trade normally add a substantial amount of jobs in November, but each industry hired a few hundred jobs fewer than normal for the month.
Oregon’s over-the-year job growth of 1.6 percent closely matched the U.S. jobs growth rate of 1.5 percent. Most of Oregon’s major industries have expanded by about 2 percent since November of 2018. The primary exception of an industry growing faster was education and health services, which grew by 9,900 jobs or 3.3 percent. Conversely, the only major industry that contracted substantially over the past year was retail trade, which cut 1,800 jobs or just under 1 percent.