Monday, Oct. 20 --

 

It's a great time for job seekers to live in Deschutes County.

 

The latest employment study from the Oregon Employment Department shows that Deschutes County has had a 5.4 percent job growth this September.

 

That puts the county as both the fastest-growing metro area in the state and the fastest-growing county.

 

"[It's] a really blistering pace of job growth," says Central Oregon regional economist Damon Runberg. "Over the last year, there's been over 35 hundred new jobs added into Deschutes County's economy."

 

Deschutes County usually sees a loss of about 700 jobs in September, due to changes from summer tourism.

 

Instead, there was a growth of 40 jobs.

 

Local school hiring, one of the largest factors in that statistic, went up by 240 positions more than last year.