Lincoln County continues to have the highest unemployment rate in Oregon, according to county-by-county statistics released Tuesday by the Oregon Employment Department.
The June unemployment rate for the county was 17 percent, down from a statewide high of 23.7 percent in May, according to regional economist Erik Knoder. A year ago the rate was 4.4 percent.
Knoder said the county unemployment rate dropped because businesses added 1,520 jobs in June – 1,180 of those coming in the hospitality industry that had been hit hard by coronavirus restrictions.
Clatsop County had the second-highest unemployment in Oregon at 15.2 percent. The statewide unemployment rate was 11.2 percent in June; the national rate was 11.1 percent.
Lincoln County’s unemployment rate reached a peak of 12.6 percent during the 2008-10 recession.
Lincoln and Clatsop counties are the most leisure and hospitality dependent in Oregon, the state agency said, with more than twice the share of employment in that sector as in Oregon statewide.
Oregon Employment Department statistics also show that 5,732 workers had filed unemployment claims since pandemic-related shutdowns began in mid-March.
Year-over-year, Knoder said Lincoln County had 3,410 fewer jobs in June 2020 compared with one year before, a decrease of 17.4 percent.
Almost every major industry lost jobs over the year, he said. Leisure and hospitality accounted for most of the drop with a loss of 1,910 jobs, down 36.6 percent from the year before.
The civilian labor force in Lincoln County numbers 21,545, according to the state, with 17,972 holding down jobs. The county’s population is just short of 50,000.
