Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon’s unemployment rate remained level at 12.2 percent in June. The figures don’t tell the whole story however.  Thousands of jobs were still lost.

But as Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, many Oregonians appear to have stopped looking for work -- keeping the unemployment rate stable.

The number of seasonally adjusted non-farm jobs dropped in June by about 7000. Those jobs were in manufacturing, professional services, and transportation.

Such losses might prompt you to expect a rise in the unemployment rate. But, says state employment economist Art Ayre, many Oregonians look like they’ve decided to stop looking for work. 

Art Ayre: “As people get discouraged looking for work, in an economy with a very high unemployment rate, some of those people are likely to leave the workforce. Either staying in Oregon and not seeking work, or actually leaving the state and going to other states perhaps with lower unemployment rates. So either one of those could explain why that labor force has declined a bit over the last couple of months.”

And  if someone stops looking for work then they’re no longer counted as unemployed.

But the figures weren’t all doom and gloom. Ayre says even factoring for people who have stopped looking, the unemployment rate appears to be stabilizing.

Art Ayre: “We could be leveling off at this point. We have had three months of very little change, relative to prior month’s changes, in unemployment rate. The pace of job loss is a little bit slower now, certainly than it was in the early part of this year and late last year.”

The leveling off gives hope that after a little more time, the jobless rate might begin to drop.

Art Ayre: “Eventually this downturn should turn around. We should have job gains, but unfortunately it looks like, in the most recent forecast, that wouldn’t start until the second quarter of 2010.”

Most industries are still not following their normal seasonal trends -- with manufacturing, trade and business services all losing jobs in a month when they usually gain.

But Ayre says  construction bucked that trend and added significantly more jobs than usual.

Art Ayre: “It’s possible that some of the stimulus money has influenced those job gains in construction. Heavy and civil engineering construction added 1600 jobs in June and that is the portion of construction that focuses on roads and bridges and other types of infrastructure, sewer, water and so forth.”

At the Tualatin WorkSource office, dozens of people sit in small cubicles looking for a job.

Caroline Miller, had worked at the same company for 35 years before being laid-off in January.

Caroline Miller: “It’s an up and down road. It varies from day to day, you basically take one day at a time. One day you’re encouraged. The next day you’re not. It just depends. You just have to keep going and hope from one day to the next that you’ll find something and that somebody will see your resume, and want you and give you a chance.”

Miller says job hunting has changed since she last looked for work. And while the internet is useful, she wishes she could talk to managers across a desk.

Caroline Miller: “You can’t portray yourself to an employer as, you know: I am really good. I’ll do a really good job for you. You know, you’re just sending resumes out to the air. And not being able to fight for yourself personally.”

Oregon’s unemployment rate remains more than two-and-a-half percentage points higher than the national average, which stands at 9.5 percent.