SALEM, Ore. — A state report says Oregon employers are adding jobs at a robust pace, and the unemployment rate has dropped to 6.3 percent.
The mild winter has contributed to the sunny economic news, as construction companies kept crews on the job in January.
The state Employment Department reported Tuesday that the January unemployment rate was down from 6.7 percent in December and at its lowest point since July 2008.
With the Great Recession, Oregon’s jobless rate peaked in 2009 at 11.9 percent.
The agency says job growth has been accelerating, rising from a rate of 1.4 percent in 2012 to 3.3 percent in the past 12 months.
In January, 7,600 new nonfarm payroll jobs were reported. The state’s total employment is reported at more than 1.8 million.
