Portland's true 2023 unemployment rate hit about 20%
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Portland's true unemployment rate last year was 20%, compared with its official rate of nearly 3.9%, according to a study from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP).
Why it matters: Unemployment in Portland has steadily recovered from pandemic highs, but a more nuanced look at the region's workforce data reveals a larger chunk of individuals who can't find a living-wage job.
The intrigue: Bend had the lowest true unemployment rate (11%) among all the U.S. metros tracked by the institute.
What they're saying: "Currently the share of prime-age Oregonians who have a job is at a record high," state economist Josh Lehner wrote after the Employment Department released its most recent report last month.
- However, a string of local layoffs may have contributed to Portland having the biggest loss in total employment of all top 50 metro areas for March.
Between the lines: The true unemployment rate tends to track — but also be much higher than — the headline Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment rate, which excludes anybody who has stopped looking for work and those discouraged by a lack of jobs or the demands of child care.
- The BLS rate also excludes people who might be earning only a few dollars a week; LISEP, by contrast, counts anybody earning less than $25,000 per year as unemployed.
Zoom out: Portland's true unemployment rate is about 3 percentage points lower than the national rate of 23%.
- But it is higher than that of many major metros, including the Twin Cities (19%), San Jose (18%) and Denver (16%), which ranked as the national leader for living-wage jobs.