According to Damon Runberg, Regional Economist Serving the East Cascades of Oregon, Oregon Employment Department noted that February revealed a continuation of the trends that we have seen over the past several months. Deschutes County continues to add jobs at a fast pace, amongst the fastest growing economies in the nation. Employment levels are little changed in Crook County. However, unemployment rates are declining due to residents’ likely finding work in Deschutes County. Jefferson continues to see moderate job growth.
Crook County: Unemployment levels continue to improve in Crook County. The rate dropped to 7.3 percent in February from 7.6 percent in January. Improvement to the unemployment rate is likely being driven by Crook County residents finding work in Deschutes or Jefferson counties. The rate remains down significantly from last February when it was 9.2 percent.
Crook County shed 90 jobs from January, which is higher than the expected seasonal decline of 30 jobs. However, after accounting for the seasonally adjusted gains in January, Crook County’s hiring patterns have been fairly typical for late winter.
Employment levels remain little changed from last year (-50 jobs). The private sector is beginning to dig out from last year’s wood products layoffs with modest gains in construction, health care, and the financial sector.
Deschutes County (Bend-Redmond MSA): The unemployment rate in Deschutes County was essentially unchanged at 5 percent in February. The rate is down from last year when it was 5.8 percent. The growth in Deschutes County’s labor force over the past year was impressive, adding nearly 5,800 workers into the labor pool.
Nonfarm payroll employment typically bottoms out in February on a seasonal basis, but the county posted significant jobs gains over the past month (+530 jobs). These seasonally adjusted gains were likely a result of our warm and dry February, which resulted in construction hiring. A strong early winter snowpack reinforcedthe tourism and retail sectors.
Deschutes County continued to add jobs at a very fast pace over the past year. Employment levels are up by 4,350 jobs from February 2015 (+6.2 percent). As of January, Deschutes County’s job market was the 5th fastest growing of 388 metropolitan statistical areas nationally. The fastest growing industry over the past year was information, which grew by 13.9 percent (+220 jobs). The largest raw job gains were seen in retail trade, which added 700 jobs from last February.
Jefferson County: Seasonally adjusted unemployment was down slightly in February at 6.7 percent from 6.9 percent in January. The unemployment rate remains down significantly from last February (7.9 percent).
Employment levels were unchanged from last month. There is typically little hiring activity this time of year in Jefferson County.
Nonfarm employment remains up by a modest 80 jobs from last year (+1.3 percent). Growth is being stymied by job losses in local government, which includes tribal owned businesses (-70 jobs). A variety of industries posted moderate job gains over the past year, including construction and manufacturing.
