Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in January at 5.3 percent. Harney County (11.6%) registered the highest rate for the month. Fifteen of Oregon’s counties had unemployment rates at or below the statewide rate of 7.0 percent and 10 were below the nationwide rate of 6.6 percent. Grant County saw the l argest improvement in its unemployment rate over the year with a drop of 3.2 percentage points. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose in all of Oregon’s six broad regions between January 2013 and January 2014. The largest job gains occurred in Central Oregon (+3.4%). The Portland area (+2.6%), the Willamette Valley (+2.6%), Southern Oregon (+0.7%), Eastern Oregon (0.7%), and the Oregon Coast (+0.2%) also saw job growth over the year.
