August 17, 2021 11:30 a.m. 

Oregon’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.2 percent in July.

An update from the Oregon Employment Department said that was a drop from 5.6 percent in June. July was the 15th consecutive monthly decline in Oregon’s unemployment rate. The reduction in the unemployment rate accelerated over the past two months with a .2 percentage point drop in June followed by a .4 drop in July. The report said those improvements followed slow declines of .1 per month in each of the first five months of 2021.

OED said Oregon’s July unemployment rate declined dramatically from its high of 13.2 percent in April 2020, at the peak of the last recession, to 5.2 percent in July. However, the state’s unemployment rate is still moderately above the period of record low rates in the years prior to the pandemic. During July 2017 through March 2020, Oregon’s unemployment rate was fairly steady, averaging 3.9 percent.

The report said for the past several years, Oregon’s unemployment rate generally has closely tracked the U.S. unemployment rate. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 5.4 percent in July from 5.9 percent in June.

OED said in Oregon, nonfarm payroll employment grew by 20,000 in July, following monthly gains averaging 9,100 in the prior six months. Gains in July were largest in government- with an additional 12,800 jobs, and in leisure and hospitality- which added 7,100 jobs. Only one major industry shed more than 900 jobs, the transportation, warehousing and utilities category, lost 2,500 positions.

Government job gains in July were concentrated in local government, in contrast with federal and state government, which both experienced their normal seasonal pattern in July. The update said throughout the economic recovery of the past year, local government averaged more than 20,000 jobs below its pre-recession level of about 230,000. In July, seasonally adjusted employment shot upward by 12,800 jobs. Likely factors in the stronger July pattern this year include schools not laying off the typical number of employees for the summer and cities and counties ramping up employment closer to pre-pandemic levels.

OED said leisure and hospitality expanded rapidly in July, adding 7,100 jobs. Despite that gain, it still accounts for the bulk of Oregon’s jobs not recovered since early 2020, with 44,500 jobs left to recover to reach the prior peak month of February 2020. The industry has regained 60 percent of jobs lost early in the pandemic.

Transportation, warehousing and utilities declined by 2,500 jobs in July. The industry is still 5,100 jobs above its July 2019 total of 70,400 jobs.