Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 12.4 percent in May -- the highest since records started being calculated the current way in 1976.
 
On the positive side, the number of jobs in the state only dropped by about 100 --- the smallest loss of any month or the last 10.

State economist, Art Ayre explains that while Oregon didn’t lose a lot of jobs, people keep moving here of coming out of retirement -- so the unemployment rate keeps rising.

Art Ayre: “It’s good news that we didn’t lose very many jobs in May, seasonally adjusted. That we had almost the normal seasonal gain in employment in May. I would say that’s good news. The fact that the employment rate went up point-6 of a percent is not good news. But it is less of an increase in the unemployment rate that we’ve become used to over the past half-year or so.”

Most industrial sectors followed their normal seasonal pattern for this time of year -- contrary to what’s happened for the last eight months.

But manufacturing continued its slide, cutting 1300 positions.

On the bright side, construction added 1700 jobs, an indication that the federal stimulus package is making a difference.