Central Oregon Economic Indicators – January 2025

Economy in Central Oregon

By Andrew Grimoldby | Workforce Analyst/Economist, East Cascades Oregon Employment Department

January in View:

The nation’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate marginally decreased from 4.1% in December to 4.0% in January, and at the statewide level, the unemployment rate increased by 0.1% from 4.3% to 4.4%.

In Deschutes County, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased from 3.9% in January 2024 to 4.0% in January 2025. Crook County and Jefferson County decreased from 6.1% to 5.4% and 4.8% to 4.6%, respectively.

Topic of the Month: Occupations with the Highest Number of Job Vacancies in the East Cascades, 2024

Every quarter the Oregon Employment Department conducts their statewide Job Vacancy Survey, with detailed regional results coming out yearly. In the East Cascades, there were a reported 5,941 job vacancies at any given time in 2024. The number of vacancies declined in 2024 and dropped to pre-pandemic levels. The industries representing the most job vacancies were health care and social assistance (1,373), leisure and hospitality (1,157), and manufacturing (925). Over half (73%) of vacancies required no education beyond high school, and 53% of vacancies required previous experience. The average wage for all vacancies in the East Cascades was $22.68.

Additionally, employers surveyed in the East Cascades reported that 74% of the vacancies were difficult to fill. Of the 1,490 (25%) vacancies that were open for 60 days or longer, 93% were reported as difficult to fill. Average hourly wages generally increase along with education requirements for job vacancies, and high paying vacancies are more likely to require education beyond high school. Nine out of 10 (94%) vacancies with a reported hourly wage of $30 and higher required education beyond high school, and 82% of those vacancies required previous experience.

To learn more about regional and statewide job vacancies, you can visit our Job Vacancy Survey section on the publication page of QualityInfo.org, or read this article on Oregon job vacancies.