Oregon jobless rate dips below 5 percent in February

PORTLAND — How low can it go?

Oregon’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.8 percent in February, its lowest level in more than 20 years, according to figures released Tuesday by the state Employment Department.

The jobless rate has been steadily declining since reaching a peak of nearly 12 percent in the spring of 2009, a time when Oregon was crushed by the recession. The state labor force has grown by nearly 100,000 in the past two years, driven largely by people moving from California and elsewhere and finding work.

Oregon added 4,300 jobs last month, led by the construction industry, after a gain of more than 9,000 jobs in January. That has sent the jobless rate plummeting to a mark last seen in April 1995.

The U.S. unemployment rate for February was 4.9 percent.

“We’ve been somewhat above the U.S employment rate for many years, and now this is the first time Oregon’s rate has reached and fallen slightly below the U.S. rate,” said David Cooke, a state economist.

Another unemployment measure, known as U-6, slid to 9.7 percent in February — down from 20 percent in mid-2009.

The figure includes discouraged workers who stopped looking, as well as part-time workers who want but can’t get full-time jobs.

“It’s really come down rapidly, the number of people working part-time for economic reasons, and that’s a sign of a sharply tightening labor force in Oregon,” Cooke said.

Oregon workers have also been getting good news when it comes to pay. The average wage for private sector payroll employees has jumped 4.5 percent since last February, to $24.40, a much-better pace than the national average of roughly 2.5 percent.

Besides construction, other major industries leading the way in February were health care and professional and business services. The laggards for the month were private educational services and manufacturing.