[5]Patrick Emerson PhD ,
OSU Economist
Oregon Economics Blog [6]
[7]Oregon’s unemployment rate fell slightly [8], from 8.9% to 8.7% but, as I have been saying all along, this is not the number that matters as it represents the supply and demand equilibrium. What matters are jobs and in September the state shed a whopping 7,900 of them on a seasonally adjusted basis. This bucks the national numbers which saw strong job growth so perhaps we will see a significant future revision. Either way, it is further evidence of a recovery that is like an engine with a bad carburetor – it goes but in a sputtering and halting way.