If there’s good holiday news in the economic world, it’s that Lincoln County’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate finally dropped to below 6 percent in November.
The Oregon Employment Department reported this week that Lincoln County’s jobless rate was 5.7 percent last month – significantly better than the 8 percent unemployment rate of November 2020.
But the county’s unemployment rate is still much higher than the overall Oregon and national rates, both of which were 4.2 percent in November.
Erik Knoder, the agency’s economist for northwest Oregon, said that seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 70 jobs in November to 17,770. Seasonally adjusted figures compare expected changes with actual changes.
A loss of 370 jobs was expected for the month, but the county’s total nonfarm employment fell by 440. The private sector shed 410 jobs, and government employment dropped by 30. Food manufacturing trimmed 170 jobs. The leisure and hospitality sector cut 160 jobs. Other industries had smaller changes.
November’s total nonfarm employment numbers show a gain of 350 jobs compared with one year before, an increase of 2 percent.
The county lost 4,360 jobs in April 2020 as the pandemic hit, and it remains 970 jobs below its pre-pandemic employment of November 2019.
