Total payroll employment in Josephine County rose by an estimated 330 jobs in September.
According to the Oregon Employment Department, there were 34,593 people working in Josephine County last month for a seasonally adjusted jobless rate of 4.7%. That was the same as in August and down sharply from 6.2% in 2022.
Private sector losses totaled 250 jobs while government sector employment gained 580 jobs. All of the government gain was due to seasonally typical increases in local government education totaling 600 jobs.
Leisure & hospitality showed the largest decrease in September, down by 170 jobs over the month. Smaller losses were estimated in retail trade, construction, and private education & health services.
Over the past year, payroll employment in Josephine County rose by 140 jobs, a gain of 0.5%.
Industries adding jobs since September 2022 included private education & health services (+460), other services (+90), professional & business services (+40), and transportation, warehousing & utilities (+30). Industries losing jobs over the month were leisure & hospitality (-240), retail trade (-140), manufacturing (-80), financial activities (-70) and wholesale trade (-60).
Government employment rose by 150 jobs over the year. State government, local government education and federal government all added jobs since September 2022.
