Manufacturing and Tech Layoffs Push Oregon Jobless Rate to Highest Jump in the U.S.

Oregon businesses have shed 24,600 jobs since the beginning of August 2024, with the manufacturing sector hardest hit, losing 9,400 workers.

This grim reality is underscored by the state’s Employment Department, which recently revealed that unemployment in Oregon now stands at 5% after steadily creeping up since last August, when it stood at 4.2% compared to the national unemployment rate of 4.2%.

The tech industry has also suffered its share of job losses, reporting in excess of 11,000 layoffs since the beginning of 2024.

The tech industry has also suffered its share of job losses, reporting in excess of 11,000 layoffs since the beginning of 2024.

Oregon Has Yet to Return to its Pre-Pandemic Employment Ratios

In July, the Oregon Common Sense Institute stated that a Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey indicated that the state had yet to fully return to its pre-pandemic employment-to-population ratio..

Five of 11 main industry sectors remain below pre-pandemic levels – mining and logging, manufacturing, trade, transportation and utilities, financial activities, and leisure and hospitality.

However, it is not all doom and gloom on the Oregon labor front. Employment growth has been recorded by Education and Health Services (11.4%).

Oregon is featured as one of the states with statistically significant unemployment rate changes from August 2024 to August 2025, according to a recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics news release.

In Oregon, unemployment in August 2024 was 4.2% compared to 5% in August 2025. This 0.8% swing is the highest in the country, matched only by Indiana.