Lincoln County continues to suffer more than any other area of Oregon when it comes to unemployment.
The Oregon Employment Department released May unemployment figures for the state’s 36 counties on Tuesday, and Lincoln County again had the highest rate at 23.9 percent. Clatsop County was second at 23.5 percent.
Jobs in both coastal counties have been hammered since March, when coronavirus-related restrictions on business and travel went into effect.
Lincoln County’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped a little from April’s record high of 25.9 percent. It was 4.4 percent in May 2019.
Figures from the state show that the number of workers in Lincoln County totaled 21,245 in May – but 4,984 were unemployed. In May 2019 there were just 802 workers without jobs, according to the state’s figures.
If there was some good news in May, it was that private-sector employment rose by 670 jobs, and government employment inched up by 10. Leisure and hospitality added 600 jobs with gains of 460 in the accommodations industry and 130 in food services and bars.
But May’s total nonfarm employment still showed a loss of 4,250 jobs compared with one year before, a decrease of 22.6 percent.
Initial claims for unemployment benefits in Lincoln County had dropped steadily from a high of more than 1,000 in early April to 122 for the week of May 30. But initial claims during the first two weeks of June rose again – to 175 for the week of June 8 and 228 for the week of June 13.
Almost every major industry lost jobs over the year, said Erik Knoder, regional economist for the Oregon Employment Department. Leisure and hospitality accounted for most of the drop with a loss of 2,700 jobs, down 56 percent from the year before.
Lincoln County’s unemployment rate reached a peak of 12.6 percent during the Great Recession.
The statewide unemployment rate was 14.2 percent in May, and the national rate was 13.3 percent.
