The historic wave of layoffs that rocked Oregon in 2024 and 2025 appears behind us now, with the pace of job cuts down sharply this year.
Fewer layoffs doesn’t mean more new jobs, though. Not so far.
“Economists are describing the labor market as a low-hire, low-fire labor market,” state economist Carl Riccadonna told a legislative committee during his quarterly revenue forecast late last month. He said workers are holding onto the jobs they have but new opportunities remain relatively rare.
The same dynamic is playing out nationally but it’s especially pronounced here.
Oregon layoff notices topped Great Recession levels in 2025. Riccadonna said the state’s faltering semiconductor industry was primarily responsible. Chipmakers cut thousands of jobs as the industry’s local workforce fell to a 30-year low.
Most of those layoffs are over, at least for now. But despite rising sales and record stock prices, chip companies aren’t hiring again. Not yet. And most other employers are staying on the sidelines, too.
On an annual basis, Oregon has shed jobs in each of the last 16 months. The declines are modest, but they are consistent.
Even the health care field, which had been the one bright spot in the state’s labor market, appears less robust.
“It looks like the pace of (health care) job openings is kind of cooling,” Riccadonna said. “It does raise some big question marks of what happens to the labor market as this very reliable engine of jobs seems to be shifting into a lower gear.”
State economists say there are signs that give them hope, like an uptick in job postings. But while the number of new listings is rising, it’s not rising very much.
“The trend is favorable,” Riccadonna told lawmakers, “but subtle.”
This is Oregon Insight, The Oregonian’s weekly look at the numbers behind the state’s economy. View past installments here.
oregon-insight, @newsletter-oregon-insight
©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
