Oregon's Jobless Ranking Drops to Fourth in U.S.
August 21, 2009
Author: CFM Staff
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Oregon's unemployment rate dropped to 11.9 percent in July, which means Oregon no longer has the highest, or even second-highest, unemployment rate in the nation.
Earlier this year, the state was neck-and-neck with notoriously jobless Michigan for the highest unemployment rate among the states. It leveled off at 12.2 percent in June, then dropped two-tenths of a percent in July.
The Oregon legislature passed a bill extending unemployment benefits, which will go into effect in October.
The jobless number doesn't take into account discouraged job-seekers or part-time workers who would prefer a full-time job. A study by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston estimates the real unemployment number in the state is around 24 percent, the highest number in the study. Read the Portland Tribune article.
The small decline in the unemployment rate halts more than a year of steady increase. Oregon lost only 700 jobs in July, compared to 3,400 in June, according to the Oregon Economics blog.
Next Thursday, state economist Tom Potiowsky will paint a bigger picture of the state's economy when he delivers Oregon's quarterly revenue forecast to the legislative revenue committees. If the unemployment number is any indication, Oregon may have already seen the worst.
“When we see our next revenue forecast on August 27," said House Speaker Dave Hunt in a press release, "we’ll get a better picture of how our families are doing in this very difficult economic time… and we’ll have a better gauge on any effects of current economic trends on our state budget.”
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