South Coast Economy in Summary

Below are this month’s South Coast indicators with April 2024 data. You can also view them by following this QualityInfo link.

I’m excited to introduce our new Workforce Analyst for Southern Oregon, Jeff McAllister. Jeff will be sending out the indicators next month but please feel free to get in touch to say hello or ask questions as he’s getting trained up in the coming weeks.

South Coast Economy

Coos County employment declined by 160 and Curry County employment declined by 260 over the year to April. Government was the sector with the most job gains in both counties. The largest declines in Coos were in professional and business services, and in Curry industries with the largest losses were trade and leisure and hospitality. Seasonally adjusted unemployment was 4.8% in Coos and 5.2% in Curry

You can find the latest South Coast Employment Press Releases that dive deeper into industry specific employment details here:

South Coast Employment in April

Special Topic: Change in the Labor Force

The special graph this month looks back at 25 years of change in the labor force. The South Coast’s growth in working population in the last 25 years hasn’t matched the state’s or nation’s.

That is to be expected in many ways, as population growth has been slower in Coos and Curry, and the older age of the population in Curry in particular means more are likely to be retired from the labor force. It’s difficult to discount the long impact of the 2008 Recession as well, which drove people out of the labor force. The most recent peak in both counties was in the mid-2000s, before the impacts of the construction and manufacturing-based Great Recession took hold.

Good Labor Market Reads on Quality Info