BEND, OR -- Local unemployment levels held steady in July, following the post-pandemic rebound. Regional Economist Damon Runberg says year-over-year job growth shows the local economy is slowing, "We’re only up 670 jobs more in Deschutes County than we were this time last year. That’s dramatically slower growth than what we’ve seen in a long time - one of the slowest growing metro areas. Now, we are one of the only metro areas to have fully recovered, so you’d expect to be growing slower at that point. But, we’re at a growth rate over the last year of less than a percent."

Runberg says it's expected, given the strong local picture, pre-COVID. "Growth was slowing before the pandemic; however, we basically got back to where we were before, which was a good position, as far as economic activity. So, you wouldn’t really expect the economy to still be rip-roaring after we sort of got back to what was, before, considered a good spot."

He believes we won’t see an increase in the jobs numbers until we can expand the labor force, by either bringing more workers into the area or waiting for teens to get their first job. 

Deschutes County’s jobless rate ticked up a tenth of a point in July to 3.5%, Crook County remained at 4.7% and Jefferson County held at 4.6%. 

Deschutes County lost 920 jobs in July, according to the latest report, But Runberg says that's not unusual, "Every regional and local economy in the United States loses jobs on a non-seasonally adjusted basis in July; and it has everything to do with local schools. They have two, three months of cutting a lot of their payroll for the summer break." He admits the number is a little higher than typical, but he’s hesitant to call it a trend just yet.