A big jump in June’s seasonal non-farm employment led to some good news for Wallowa County’s economy.

The county had an estimated June 2005 jobless rate of 6.3 percent, down moderately from the May 2005 figure of 8.3 percent. June’s labor force estimates show 3,489 employed and 234 unemployed local residents.

Wallowa County’s unemployment rate is back below the statewide average of 6.5 percent for the first time since October of last year and the current jobless rate is more than two percentage points lower than it was in June 2004. It’s a comfortable margin of improvement that has been in place, give or take a little, all year long. Finally, summer’s hiring surge arrived as usual, but with a number of additional jobs over the average summer season. June’s addition of 220 nonfarm jobs was Wallowa County’s biggest single-month employment jump in two years.

Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 6.5 percent was essentially unchanged from the revised 6.4 percent in May. For the first six months of the year, Oregon’s unemployment rate ranged from 6.1 percent to 6.5 percent.

In June, Oregon’s seasonally adjusted payroll employment grew by 3,900, following a decline of 2,700 jobs (as revised) in May. June employment growth was in line with typical job gains during the first half of the year, when an average of 4,300 jobs per month were added.

June marks the two-year anniversary of Oregon’s most recent recession trough, as measured by payroll employment. Since June 2003, every major industry experienced job gains. Between June 2003 and June 2005, the fastest-growing industries were construction (19 percent increase) and natural resources and mining (11 percent). Trailing the pack were information (4 percent), government (3 percent), and financial activities (1 percent). The remaining six major industries each experienced a job growth rate very close to that of total nonfarm payroll employment (5.6 percent).