Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon’s unemployment rate has shot up this summer to 6.5 percent.

The latest figures for August show jobless numbers increased six tenths of one percent since July.

State economist, David Cooke, says it’s the biggest jump he’s seen in a while.

David Cooke: “There is cause for concern because the manufacturing sector has declined substantially, and some of the industries have had a substantial downturn like transportation equipment manufacturing, like the motor coaches and the lumber and wood products, which was at an unsustainable peak level of over 100,000 jobs. And now that level has come down considerably with the downturn in the housing market.”

The actual number of jobs overall has remained about the same over the last year, but the unemployment rate continues to climb as more people keep moving to the state.

The jobless rate was last at this level in January 2005.