Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon's unemployment ratings for the month of June were released Monday and the results are a mixed bag.

The state unemployment rate is down one tenth of one percentage point from the previous month to 5.5 percent.  But the state revised its numbers from May to include an additional 2,400 jobs lost that month.

David Cooke is an economist with the state employment department.   Cooke says the May revision was "substantial" and paints a "darker outlook of the employment picture" but he said revisions like that are common.

Cooke says Oregon's rate is even with the national average after adding education, government, and construction jobs.

David Cooke: "The rise in the unemployment rate over the past year and a half indicates the economy is not generating the jobs needed for the growing labor force.  But at 5.5 percent we're now at the same unemployment rate as the U.S."

Cooke says it's the first time in a dozen years that Oregon's jobless rate has matched up with the national average.  But he says construction, timber and manufacturing jobs are all down "quite a bit" over the past year.