July 12, 2003
Oregon Unemployment Rate Hits 8.5, Highest Level Since 1986
Yes, it's that time again. Put on your beaver-related paraphenalia and start chanting, "Oregon's number one!" The state's unemployment rate rose again, likely maintaining our top-ranking position among the states:
The conundrum of Oregon's ailing economy grew more puzzling in June as the state unemployment rate leapt to a 17-year high of 8.5 percent while the state added thousands of new jobs, according to figures released Friday.
The jump in unemployment from 8.2 percent in May means Oregon is likely to keep the dubious distinction of having the highest unemployment rate in the nation.
Apparently, part of the reason for this is that our labor force keeps growing, outpacing the number of jobs. At several events I've attended over the past month or so, someone inevitably mentioned, with a fair amount of incredulity -- that people keep moving to Oregon even though we don't have any work for them.
And yes, it's been seventeen years since we last had an unemployment rate this high:
The last time Oregon's unemployment rate hit 8.5 percent was in July 1986, when the state was struggling to right itself after a devastating recession. Soaring interest rates in the early 1980s crippled the national real estate market, which in turn damaged Oregon's then-dominant timber industry. Rural Oregon went into a tailspin from which it has never fully recovered.
All of this, of course, as I slide into the danger zone of needing to go back to working for a living. At least I have a short string of days helping a bookstore move into its new location. But after that, well, maybe one of those people who won the $250-plus million Powerball instead of me can become Medici to the PORTLAND COMMUNIQUE.
Except of course they are from Missouri and Pennsylvania and don't know who I am.