Local Employment Improves Slightly

Just as the employment picture improves ever-so-slightly around the state and around the nation, it does in southern Oregon as well. For March, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for Jackson County dipped to 10.6 percent, compared to 10.7 in February. Comparing to the same month last year, the unemployment rate has improved a little more than a half a percent.

In Josephine County, the unemployment rate decreased from month-to-month from 11.7 to 11.5 percent. In March 2011, the unemployment rate for Josephine County was 12.8 percent.

No one sector stood out in terms of gains or losses, though Jackson County manufacturing picked up 60 jobs, and construction payrolls increased by 30. Over the year, Jackson County has gained 470 non-farm jobs, 210 in March.