Employment
Rapid Recovery
In spring 2020, the pandemic recession brought unparalleled job losses to Oregon. One out of seven jobs was lost in two months’ time. Unemployment hit a record high rate of 13.3% in April 2020. Oregon had not seen job losses of that scale and speed before.
A relatively fast jobs recovery followed. Oregon regained the 280,000 jobs lost in spring 2020 in less than three years. By January 2023, Oregon’s total nonfarm payroll employment (1,980,100) was larger than in February 2020 (1,968,900). Prior to the pandemic recession, it took more than six years (79 months) to add as many jobs (290,000) as in the recovery period from April 2020 to January 2023 (33 months).
While all sectors initially experienced job losses, the pandemic recession hit service-providing industries, including leisure and hospitality, education, and other services. The jobs recovery was also uneven. Widespread gains across several sectors pushed employment to new highs in many areas of Oregon’s economy. Meanwhile, other sectors lag behind, struggling to add back jobs.
By January 2023, several sectors recovered their recession losses and expanded to new highs. For a variety of reasons, these sectors experienced smaller job losses than the overall economy, and bounced back faster during the recovery. The most notable among them included construction; transportation, warehousing, and utilities; and professional and technical services. The sectors leading recovery have homes and residences as a common thread (a greater likelihood to be working from them, building them, or making deliveries to them).
The hard-hit service sectors in the pandemic recession were among those lagging behind the full jobs recovery. In January 2023, leisure and hospitality remained 10,800 jobs (-5.3%) below its pre-recession jobs level.
The education services sector in Oregon was also slower to recover. Public K-12, community colleges, and public universities make up about half of all jobs in Oregon’s local government sector. In January 2023, local government employment remained 2,800 jobs below the February 2020 level (-1.2%). Private education services sat 2,500 jobs (-7.1%) below its prerecession level at the outset of 2023.
Slow Expansion
After reaching a total nonfarm jobs recovery, gains slowed dramatically in Oregon. Between January 2023 and August 2024, Oregon added a total of 18,900 jobs in the next 19 months. That’s an average monthly gain of just less than 1,000 jobs per month, which is slow by historical standards. Job gains have continued to be unevenly distributed across the economy, with the bulk of recent job gains occurring in private health care and social assistance. Meanwhile, the retail trade and leisure and hospitality sectors lost the most jobs. Employment at Oregon’s hotels, restaurants, and entertainment places remains 10,400 jobs (-4.8%) below where it was 4.5 years ago.
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