AS last year, the tourism season started slowly this spring, but things are definitely heating up.

Regional Economist Damon Runberg says unemployment ticked down in all three of the region's counties.

"Our tourism industry blew up this summer. Last year, we returned to pre-recession levels in 2013.  This year we're far beyond pre-recession levels.  In June though, we added 880 new jobs in leisure and hospitality, so that's far more than in years past."

Unemployment rates in central Oregon are at their lowest levels since the summer of 2008.

The seasonaly adjusted unemployment rates are 8.1 percent in Deschutes County, 9.4 percent in Jefferson County and 10.3 percent in Crook County.