Oregon’s Job Growth Fastest in Private Education and Health Services and Government
March 20, 2025Oregon gained 22,000 nonfarm payroll jobs from January 2024 to January 2025, which was a growth rate of 1.1%. Among all states and the District of Columbia, Oregon was near the middle of the pack, ranking 23rd. Idaho tied with Alaska for fastest growing, at 2.8% over the year. Washington was also among the faster growing states at 1.8%. California had slower growth at 0.1%, ranking 47th. West Virginia was the slowest growing over the year, at -0.5%.
Oregon Industry Rankings
Job growth rankings by industry sector show that two sectors of Oregon’s economy added jobs fast enough to rank in the top 10 of all states: the private education and health services industry, and government. Job growth in professional and business services (1.1%) was just barely out of the top 10, ranking 11th.
In private education and health services, Oregon grew at 4.9% over the year, ranking fourth. Virginia grew the fastest (5.7%) while Wyoming grew the slowest (0.3%). Both components of private education and health services – private educational services, and health care and social assistance – contributed to growth in this industry. Private educational services grew by 3.0% over the year, adding 1,100 jobs. Health care and social assistance added 15,100 jobs, growing 5.2%.
In government, Oregon grew at 3.0%, which ranked seventh. Utah grew at the fastest rate (4.0%), and West Virginia was the slowest (-1.8%). Federal, state, and local government all contributed to growth in Oregon. State government grew at the fastest rate of 5.3%.
Oregon’s job growth ranked near the middle for construction, financial activities, and leisure and hospitality. Construction grew by 0.8% over the year, which ranked 31st among all states and the District of Columbia. Leisure and hospitality grew 0.4%, which was ranked 36th. Finally, employment in financial activities changed by -0.6%, which ranked 34th.
Oregon’s job growth in both manufacturing and trade, transportation, and utilities ranked 50th among all states and the District of Columbia. In the manufacturing industry, Oregon grew at -3.7% over the year. In the trade, transportation, and utilities industry, Oregon grew at -0.9%.
Oregon’s Historical Job Growth Compared to the U.S.
Historically, Oregon has a track record of greater job growth than the United States. Oregon has tended to grow faster than the U.S. during good economic times, but lose more jobs, relatively, in the tough times. However, something different seems to be happening in Oregon in the recovery since the pandemic recession.
Oregon’s employment growth seems to be diverging from the U.S. trend in recent months. Toward the end of 2023, Oregon’s growth was slower and slightly declining at times. Since the beginning of 2024, however, Oregon has been adding jobs at around the same rate as the U.S., though decidedly not faster. It will be interesting over the next few years to see if Oregon reverts to prior trends of growing faster than the U.S. or if that time period of consistently stronger growth is behind us.
Where to Get Oregon’s Latest Job Growth Rates
The most recent job growth rates by industry for Oregon are available on QualityInfo.org using the Current Employment Estimates (CES) tool.