OR Employment Dept. release - The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) suspended the monthly employment and unemployment reports for the nation, states, and metropolitan areas as of Oct. 1, 2025. Oregon’s monthly jobs and unemployment rate for September are unavailable at this time. Quarterly Employment and Wages - In the meantime, the Oregon Employment Department released the latest Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). The most current QCEW data provides employment trends and wages by industry through June 2025. The monthly employment numbers originally scheduled for release Wednesday would have included information for September 2025. The newest QCEW data shows that covered employment totaled 2,004,700 in the second quarter of 2025, a decline of 3,800 jobs (-0.2%) from the second quarter of 2024. The private sector lost 11,100 jobs over the year (-0.6%). The manufacturing sector lost nearly 7,400 jobs between the second quarters of 2024 and 2025 (-3.9%). Meanwhile, private health care and social assistance grew by 14,100 jobs (+4.7%) over the year. Government gained 7,300 jobs (+2.4%) over the year. Three out of four government jobs added were in local government. The latest QCEW figures show federal government dropped 400 jobs compared with second quarter 2024. Federal Government Jobs in Oregon - Oregon had an average of 29,000 federal government jobs covered by unemployment benefits during the first half of 2025. That accounted for about 1.5% of all jobs in the state. The federal government share of all jobs was much higher in some rural counties. The top 10 counties by share of all jobs in federal government were rural areas. More than 15% of all jobs in Sherman County were in federal government. The next-largest shares were in Grant (9%), Harney (8%), and Lake (8%) counties. Federal government jobs also tend to pay relatively high wages. Looking at annual average wages, jobs on federal government payrolls in Oregon paid nearly $98,500 in 2024. That was 38% higher than the average annual wage for all jobs in Oregon. Read more about federal government jobs in Oregon.