SALEM — Oregon employers went on a hiring spree this fall, adding nearly 10,000 jobs in October and producing the largest one-month gain in nearly two decades, the state Employment Department said Tuesday.
The October hiring was particularly strong in three sectors: manufacturing, health care, and professional and business services.
Despite the job gains, the unemployment rate didn't budge from 7 percent, where it's been for months. As hiring has gotten stronger, people who hadn't been looking for work have flooded back into the job market.
In all, a survey of employers showed 9,900 new jobs were recorded in October — a seasonally adjusted figure. Oregon employers haven't created that many jobs in a single month since August 1995, when more than 10,400 jobs were added.
Food manufacturers — which includes businesses like microbreweries and bakeries — did not eliminate as many jobs as they usually do during October, said David Cooke, an economist at the Employment Department. Temporary staffing agencies showed stronger-than-usual hiring.
Over the past 12 months, Oregon's nonfarm employment has grown 2.9 percent.
"That's a relatively strong rate of growth, and it's a little bit faster than what we've seen in the last few years," Cooke said. "That indicates the economy is expanding at an accelerating rate."
The broad sector of professional and business services has shown especially strong growth, up 6 percent over last year. The category includes service firms such as legal, engineering and computer companies, as well as employment services and business support.
Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber welcomed the news but said in a statement that the state needs to ensure the job gains aren't concentrated in limited areas.
"We must ensure that this growth occurs in all corners of our state and reaches into communities that are still struggling to recover from the recession."
Payroll employment shot up by 9,900 in October, according to the Oregon Employment Department.
Most major industries added jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis, with three showing solid strength: professional and business services (+2,700 jobs); manufacturing (+2,200); and health care and social assistance (+2,000).
The gain of 9,900 was the largest monthly increase in nearly 20 years. The last time Oregon's economy added at least this many jobs was in August 1995 when 10,400 were added.
Payroll employment rose by 800 in September. This was a revision from the originally reported decline of 300 jobs.
Professional and business services accelerated its hiring trend in recent months. Its 2,700-job gain in October was the largest of the major industries. Over the past 12 months it added 12,600 jobs, which is more than one-quarter of all of Oregon's over-the-year payroll employment gains.
The companies in this broad industry include services firms such as legal, engineering, computer systems design, corporate offices, employment services, business support, and building services.
Two industries within professional and business services grew at especially fast rates over the past year.
Employment services, which includes employee leasing and temporary help supply, added 3,700 jobs or 9.9 percent. Services to buildings and dwellings added 1,300 jobs or 6.4 percent.
Manufacturing also performed better than expected in October. Normally, manufacturing would shed 3,600 jobs at this time of year as food manufacturing firms scale back their workforce following the heavy summer harvest season. But in October, manufacturing only shed 1,400 jobs. This translated into a seasonally adjusted gain of 2,200.
Food manufacturing employed 27,700 in October, a drop of 1,200 from September, but a gain of 200 from October 2013. Many other manufacturing industries were relatively flat, when each would typically see a modest October job decline.
Over the longer term, a few manufacturing industries have grown at a faster rate than the overall economy.
In the past 12 months transportation equipment manufacturing added 700 jobs, or 6.5 percent, while wood
product manufacturing also added 700 jobs, or 3.3 percent.
Private-sector health care and social assistance added 2,000 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis. Its social assistance component has been growing the fastest over the course of the year, adding 1,800 jobs or 5.3 percent since October 2013.
Oregon's unemployment rate was unchanged at 7 percent in October. Despite October's strong job growth, the unemployment rate didn't fall because more and more Oregonians are entering the labor force and looking for work.
The September unemployment rate was also 7 percent, revised from the originally reported 7.1 percent.
Oregon's unemployment rate has remained in a tight range between 6.8 percent and 7.1 percent since December 2013.
Another sign of an improving labor market is declining long-term unemployment.
The number of Oregonians unemployed for more than 27 weeks declined steadily over the past four years.
In October, approximately 33,000 Oregonians had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. This is down from more than 100,000 during much of 2010.
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