Southwestern Oregon Economic Indicators for January 2022 (Douglas data)
The January 2022 Douglas County Economic Indicators are out now and also available at this qualityinfo.org link.
Employment increased by 70 jobs in December in Douglas County on a seasonally adjusted basis, and the unemployment rate declined to 4.9%. Growth over the year was 770 jobs, a rate of 2.1%. We’ve recovered 71% of the jobs lost in March and April 2020.
The only large industry to lose jobs over the last year was professional and business services, which includes a wide range of technical roles and business support such as temp agencies. Most other industries gained jobs, although at uneven rates and varying by sub-industries. For example, manufacturing gained jobs, although nondurable goods made up more than 100% of the change because durable goods declined slightly.
For this month’s special graph I looked at workers by age group in Douglas County industries. This question comes up a lot as businesses are dealing with increasing workforce transition and turnover, and demographics such as age play some role. In Douglas County the spread between industries is quite large – workers 65 and older make up more than 10% of workers in transportation and warehousing, agriculture and forestry, and other services (this industry includes repair services, personal care such as nail salons, and religious organizations). Conversely, workers 65 and older make up only 5% of the administrative and support services workforce.
Increased levels of retirement or age-related turnover are a concern for many businesses. Not only are valuable workers regularly lost to retirement, but the knowledge and skills they’ve built often go out the door with them.
This month’s articles included:
Labor Demand in Oregon from the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis
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 | henry.l.fields@employ.oregon.gov
Comments