Douglas County Economic Indicators - April 2026

2 days ago
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The April 2026 edition of the Douglas County Economic Indicators is attached below and available at this QualityInfo.org link.

February’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.3% in Douglas County. That’s 0.7 percentage points higher than in February 2025, but the local rate has remained stable since last fall.

Over the year to February, Douglas County employment was essentially unchanged, adding 50 jobs. For many months health care has been the fastest growing industry in the area, but the most recent numbers saw faster percentage growth in construction (50 jobs, +3%) and leisure and hospitality (90 jobs, +3%). Private education and health services added 90 jobs (+1%). Manufacturing, financial activities, and retail employment declined over the year.

Graphs of the Month: The recent release of 2025 annual employment and wage data for Oregon and its counties makes it a perfect time to assess some key questions about our economic structure. What industries matter more locally? How do wage differences affect different sectors of the labor market?

The graph below plots the percentage of private sector employment by industry in Douglas County, in comparison with the state (represented by the black boxes). It’s clear that more of our jobs exist in health services, manufacturing, and natural resources. Fewer of our jobs are in professional services, financial activities and information, which is to be expected and is consistent across the rural and small urban areas of the state.

Comparing wages by industry to the state isn’t exactly apples-to-apples, since industry makeup varies through the state. Still, it provides some idea of how all earners in an industry stack up locally. All major sectors pay lower average wages than the state in Douglas County except for natural resources. Private education and health services has a very minor gap with the state, but all other industries have at least a 30% gap with the average wage per worker in Oregon.