SALEM, Ore. – Unemployment remained virtually unchanged for the month of October in Oregon as the rate went from 11.5 to 11.3 percent.
Nationwide the rate is 10.2 percent.
"Today’s employment report shows that Oregon’s unemployment rate is starting to level off and stabilize, which is promising news," Governor Ted Kulongoski said in a statement. "This week we will also receive the next quarterly state revenue forecast, which will provide another snapshot about the state of Oregon’s economy.
The state of Oregon only tracks and publishes the state's official unemployment; it does not tally the number of "under-employed" residents. The "under-employed" refers to those who are eligible to work and available for employment but not actively seeking it for one reason or another. It also includes a subset called the "marginally-attached workers," who aren't working and aren't looking for work, but who have looked for work recently.
Adding together the under-employed and unemployed gives federal Bureau of Labor Statistics economists a peak at what's really going on in the work force.
Most of the economists in a new survey say they think the recession is over, and that an expansion is under way. But they also expect the recovery to be a slow one, amid continued worries over unemployment and high federal debt. The view comes from more than 80 percent of the people surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics.
(KGW Reporter Joe Smith contributed to this report)
