Oregon's unemployment rate continued to climb in July and was again higher than the national average, according to an Aug. 13 press release from the Oregon Employment Department.

The overall unemployment rate hit 5.0% in July. It was 4.2% in July 2024 and has continued to climb this year from 4.4% in January. The rate is the highest it has been in four years, when the state was first recovering from COVID-19-era furloughs and layoffs .

In an Aug. 14 media briefing, Gail Krumenauer, the state employment economist, said the rate was the highest it has been since the beginning of 2016, excluding the pandemic period.

"The big picture has many of the similar trends that we've been talking about, but overall Oregon's employment situation is weaker than originally reported," Krumenauer said.

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