South Coast Recession Recovery Update, Feb. 12

A report from the Oregon Employment Dept. involving the South Coast’s recovery from the Great Recession. Coos County (December) employment peaked in 2005 at 23,850. By December 2010 the county lost 2,820 jobs, for a decline of 11.8 percent. Since then, Coos County employment has shown a mixed trend in job growth from the official start of the recovery. As the recovery built momentum across much of Oregon, Coos County finally began to add jobs. Now the county’s payroll employment estimates put the county at 1,100 jobs above the recessionary low. With payroll employment most recently at 22,130, that puts the county at about 39 percent recovered from the Great Recession. Curry County has not seen any employment recovery from the Great Recession. This sparsely populated county has lost 1,240 jobs from its pre-recession employment peak in December 2005. The employment base is now nearly 18 percent smaller than it was eight Decembers ago. The rising tide of Oregon’s recovery has done nothing to lift the Curry County boat. Curry County’s pre-recession employment (December) peaked in 2005 at 7,030. By December 2014, total payroll employment was down to 5,790.