Douglas County Economic Indicators - June 2024
The June 2024 edition of the Douglas County Economic Indicators is below and available on Quality Info.
Job growth was essentially flat over the last year, with a decline of 150 jobs since May 2023. Douglas County gained jobs in private education and health care, as well as construction, with losses in manufacturing and professional services. Seasonally adjusted unemployment is currently 5.1%, similar to the last several months.
Speaking of seasonal change, the sweltering summer air is making me curious about the industries that have higher seasonal employment in the summer. For the special graph this month I looked at two types of outdoor employment, agriculture and forestry, to see how they changed over the course of last year.
Douglas County farm and forestry jobs make up more of our local job mix – about 8% of local jobs, versus about 5% statewide. That’s not surprising given the rural nature of Douglas County and the richness of natural resources here. However, I didn’t expect the employment change over the year to have less of a seasonal swing than the state. From winter to summer, agriculture jobs varied 17% and forestry jobs 25% in Douglas County. In Oregon, those sectors changed 38% and 66% respectively. Although agriculture and forestry jobs are certainly still seasonal, they appear to be more evenly distributed through the year in Douglas than in the state.
This month’s articles included:
The Changing Face of the Nursing and Residential Care Industry on Quality Info
Oregon’s Per Capita Personal Income 2023 on Quality Info
Oregon Economic and Revenue Forecast, June 2024 on Oregon Office of Economic Analysis blog
As always, the Indicators contain all the latest economic data on our area. If you have a data question or want to learn more about any of these topics, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Henry L. Fields
Workforce Analyst/Economist
Serving Lane and Douglas counties
Oregon Employment Department
(541) 359-9178
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