SALEM, Ore. (AP) — New figures on jobs and unemployment show how deep the Great Recession was in Oregon and how slow the economic recovery has been.
Oregon officials said Tuesday that the unemployment rate has been falling for nearly three years. But, they said, only now has it gotten to a level that matches the highest point of the recession that followed the terror attacks of 2001.
The state Employment Department reported the unemployment rate for March was 8.6 percent.
That was the same rate the state reported in June 2003, the peak during that recession.
Six years later, in the Great Recession, joblessness in Oregon peaked at 11.6 percent.
The monthly figures from March showed little change in both the unemployment rate and the number of jobs in the state.
