Oregon enjoyed a robust labor market in the years after the Great Recession, with job growth handily outpacing the nation amid historically low unemployment.
The state has steadily lost its edge in the intervening years, a painful erosion that shows up starkly in Oregon’s unemployment rate — now the third highest in the nation.
A new analysis by the Oregon Employment Department shows the state’s unemployment rate rising much faster than in other parts of the country, beginning about three years ago. The jobless rate plateaued a little above 5% last year and has stuck there, stubbornly, ever since.
Oregon was rocked by a historic wave of layoffs in 2024 and 2025. Intel, Nike and Oregon Health & Science University collectively cut several thousand jobs, undercutting three pillars of the state’s economy. Many smaller employers laid off workers, too, and the state’s construction and manufacturing sectors are especially weak.
Other western states are facing similar headwinds, sometimes for similar reasons.
California, Washington and Nevada all have unemployment rates above 5% and rank among the states with the highest unemployment rates. California and Washington, like Oregon, have endured waves of layoffs over the past two years as big technology companies pivot aggressively toward artificial intelligence and look to reallocate spending by reversing post-pandemic hiring sprees and focusing instead on new technologies.
Oregon’s unemployment rate isn’t especially high by historical standards, about one point below the state average this century. And the pace of layoffs has slowed considerably in 2026.
But job growth hasn’t returned. Oregon has posted year-over-year job losses every month since January. Employment in Multnomah County, the state’s largest, is nearly 7% below its 2019 peak.
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