The state ended the year with a December monthly jobless rate of 5.1 percent, unchanged from November.
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That number is down from the 6.5 percent recorded in November.
“The job growth in OR right now has been really strong….” The state’s December unemployment rate was one-tenth of a percentage point above the national rate.
The jobless number peaked at 13.7 percent at the height of the recession in 2010.
State employment economist Nick Beleiciks said OR finished 2015 on an upward swing, adding more than 17,000 jobs in the last three months of the year. From December 2014 to December 2015, the state’s labor force grew by 39,000 or 0.8 percent, slightly below the national workforce gain of 1.1 percent over the same period.
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“That’s two months in a row that we’ve had really large decreases in the unemployment rate”, he added. Still, several industries experienced growth in December including Construction (+2,600 jobs), Health Care & Social Assistance (+2,000 jobs), and Other Services (+1,500 jobs). That sector lost 200 workers during the year.
