County’s jobless rate drops almost 50% over 2020
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
THE DALLES – Unemployment rose slightly, by 0.2 percent, in Umatilla County for the month of April. Oregon Employment Department Regional Economist Dallas Fridley says while he had hoped for a downward trend over the March figures, the slight gain is not a huge problem, especially when you look at where the county was in April 2020.
“Our unemployment rate has fallen from 12.5 percent a year ago to 6.3 percent,” he said. “A drop of 6.2 percentage points is a greatly improved rate.”
Morrow County also showed a slight gain in unemployment, 0.3 percent, standing now at 5.3. That’s a drop of 1.9 percent over last year. Fridley said there are signs of recovery when he looks at the number of new jobs.
In Umatilla County total private employment rose by 2,070 over the year, which is an increase of 10.8 percent over the jobs lost last year. Morrow County’s private employment jobs rose by 130 over April 2020.
