June’s unemployment rate hovers at 10.5 percent

UPDATE • Economist says: ‘We will have months of ups and downs’

Pamplin Media Group, Jul 13, 2010, Updated Jul 13, 2010 (4 Reader comments)

Economist Amy Vander Vliet says the state’s unemployment rate has hovered at about 10.5 percent for months, which might not be a bad thing because it shows the economy is leveling off.

Courtesy of Oregon Employment Department

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Oregon’s unemployment rate in June was 10.5 percent, nearly the same as May’s 10.6 percent.

State employment officials said Tuesday that the rate has not changed significantly for the past eight months, when it has been between 10.5 percent and 10.7 percent.

A year ago, Oregon’s unemployment rate was 11.6 percent.

In June, 203,884 Oregonians were unemployed. In June 2009, 229,471 Oregonians were unemployed.

Even though in May the state gained about 2,600 jobs, during June the state lost 3,600 jobs, as nearly every industrial sector lost jobs, including government and education.

Overall, said state employment economist Amy Vander Vliet, things are going to be flat for the next several months, with slow growth creeping up early next year. That shows things are beginning to stabilize in the economy, she said, and that’s not such a bad thing.

“That’s the story,” Vander Vliet said. “The last few months have been flat. We’ve been hovering around the same numbers for some time.

“The sharp and steady declines are over. We will have some months of ups and some month of downs.”

There are about 174,000 Oregonians claiming unemployment benefits. That’s a 17 percent increase from May to June, said Tom Fuller, employment department spokesman. The state is spending about $52 million from its unemployment trust fund, which still has $763 million and will remain solvent through the recession, Fuller said.

Oregonians can receive 26 weeks of unemployment, and 20 additional weeks because of the state’s sagging economy, he said. In early July, unemployed Oregonians who had exhausted all their benefits also lost the federal emergency extension when the U.S. Senate failed to act.

Census jobs come to an end

Government jobs, which had seen a bump because of temporary hiring of U.S. Census workers, lost about 3,500 jobs. Professional and business services had a job decline lost about 2,500 jobs.

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