by Guy Tauer, Oregon Employment Dept. – In addition to continuing job growth, albeit at a slower pace than the prior year, average pay per job in Coos County rose by 4.1 percent from the second quarter of 2018 to the second quarter of 2019. On an annual basis, the average wage per job reached $40,352 in the second quarter of 2019, up from $38,748 during the second quarter of 2018. With U.S. consumer prices rising 1.7 percent during that same period, this represents a real, or inflation adjusted, average pay per job increase of 2.5 percent in Coos County. It doesn’t mean the average worker got about a 3 percent raise; it could be a variety of factors including a shift in the mix of jobs, or more hours being worked affecting the average pay per job figures. The other positive news comes from the job growth figures, which have seen continued strength, now ongoing for the past seven years. Industry job growth remains a mixed bag, with job gains in manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and local government somewhat offset by losses in health care and social assistance, and retail trade between the second quarter of 2018 and the second quarter of 2019. The only sector showing notable job loss during that period was retail trade, which lost 180 jobs, a decline of 4.2 percent over the year.
