After seven months reeling from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Lincoln County’s unemployment rate dropped into the single digits in October.
But the county – which relies heavily on the hospitality industry for jobs – still has the highest jobless rate in Oregon. And all of that came before Gov. Kate Brown announced a two-week freeze on many social and business activities through Dec. 2 that resulted in another round of layoffs at restaurants and bars.
The Oregon Employment Department on Tuesday said the unemployment rate for Lincoln County in October was 8.7 percent, down from 10.6 percent in September. It had reached a high of 26.2 percent in April. The statewide and national rates in October were both 6.9 percent. A year ago Lincoln County had an unemployment rate of 3.8 percent.
Erik Knoder, the agency’s regional economist, reported that October’s total nonfarm employment numbers showed a loss of 2,300 jobs compared with one year before, a decrease of 12.3 percent. Almost every major industry lost jobs over the year, he said, with the leisure and hospitality sector accounting for much of the drop with a loss of 840 jobs, down 17.8 percent from the year before.
Knoder reported that 20,243 people were in the county’s labor force and 18,568 were working in October, down 1,330 employed in October 2019.
