Oregon’s Unemployment Dropped Below 5%
State of Oregon’s Unemployment
For the first time since March 2020, the unemployment rate in Oregon dropped below 5% in August with an overall rate of 4.9%. Oregon’s unemployment rate was below 5% in only two other periods since 1976 when comparable records
began: during 14 consecutive months in the mid-1990s when the rate dropped to as low as 4.5%; and
during the 51 consecutive months during 2016 through March 2020 when the rate dropped to a record
low of 3.3% in late 2019. (https://www.qualityinfo.org/documents/10182/73818/Employment+in+Oregon/98820442-80ef-4a56-b0ba-70fccfea9228).
The three largest counties in the Portland Metro area also posted reduced unemployment rates for August as can be seen in the below chart. 
We track continued claims each week to see where the trends are going since the overall rate is only published once per month and unfortunately, the number of continued claims for the last two weeks has increased dramatically. We went from 37,178 continued claims on September 11th to 58,320 and 51,324 for weeks ending on September 18th and September 25th. The number of continued claims has not hit the 50k mark since early May. We anticipated claims to continue to drop as schools reopened but that is not what is occurring.
SVN Economic Update
For a national perspective on the state of the economy, please read the SVN Economic Update that was just released on October 1, 2021. You can download the report HERE.