Oregon still has thousands more job openings than it has available workers and the unemployment rate remains near a historic low, at 3.8%.
The state’s months-long streak without an increase in the jobless rate ended in August, with the rate going up for a second month in a row in September, though the increases remain small. The increase is driven largely by lower-than-usual job gains in local government and public schools, according to state figures.
Oregon’s private sector has continued to add jobs, with 500 more in September, including gains in health care, manufacturing and business services. But the number of seasonally adjusted jobs in government fell by 1,100, helping push the unemployment rate up.
Economist Gail Krumenauer with the Oregon Employment Department says the job market remains tight, with about 94,000 unfilled job openings.
“So although we saw a slight uptick in the unemployment rate over the last couple of months, there are still more job vacancies than unemployed people,” Krumenauer said. “That means if every unemployed person in Oregon matched up with — and took an available job opening — there would still be some job vacancies that would go unfilled.”
The private sector overall has regained its job numbers when compared with payrolls from before the pandemic. But some employment areas — such as leisure and hospitality — remain short of where they were in early 2020.
At the same time that employers continue to search for Oregonians to fill job openings, the state’s employment department is inching closer to completing a major benefit program for workers.
When it’s fully up and running, Paid Leave Oregon will pay workers to take up to 12 weeks off — to recover from an injury, or care for a baby or ailing relative, or even to escape domestic violence. Many businesses will pay into a state fund, with payouts for eligible workers. Employers can create their own family leave programs if the state concludes they’re “equivalent” to what the state is offering. Paid Leave Oregon Director Karen Madden Humelbaugh says agency staff have started analyzing applications and responding to employers.
“So far, 31 plans have been submitted and six have been approved,” Madden Humelbaugh said.
Madden Humelbaugh says the other employers haven’t had their plans rejected — they just haven’t been processed yet. She said the department has a 30-day timeline to review the plans, and it intends to meet those deadlines. If employers don’t have their own plans approved, they can tap into the state fund.
Workers interested in tapping into paid leave benefits have a much longer wait ahead of them. Paid Leave Oregon won’t pay out benefits for almost another year — not until September 2023.
Editor’s Note: This story has been changed to clarify that all employers regardless of size can submit equivalent plans.
