The Central Oregon jobless numbers are out for December 2012 and there's one surprising bright spot. But, the latest unemployment numbers show mostly a flat picture.
In Deschutes County the jobless rate was 10.5 last month, down from 10.7 in November of 2012. Regional Economist Damon Runberg says the December year-over-year number also show a slight improvement.
"some very modest increases in non farm payroll increases over the year- point 6 percent increase - really kind of a continuation of what's been going on in 2012- we're recovering 'slowly but surely' but the slowly part is to be emphasized - there."
He also says the rate seems to be going down faster than the number of jobs added, so he believes that this area has seen a high number of people leaving the workforce. That trend is reflected in what's called the U6 number. In Oregon, the number of "discouraged" workers who have simply stopped trying to get work is high, according to labor statistics.
Crook County also lost about 100 jobs between December 2011 and 2012.
One bright spot in the central oregon jobs report is in Jefferson County. The year-over-year contrast shows Jefferson County added a net 90 private sector jobs, mostly in the manufacturing sector.
Economist Damon Runberg spoke with 1110 KBND news Wednesday morning, shortly after the latest report was issued. He says a larger overview of local labor trends in 2012 is expected out in early March.
