Oregon enjoyed a robust labor market in the years after the Great Recession, with job growth handily outpacing the nation amid historically low unemployment.
The state has steadily lost its edge in the intervening years, a painful erosion that shows up starkly in Oregon’s unemployment rate — now the third highest in the nation.
A new analysis by the Oregon Employment Department shows the state’s unemployment rate rising much faster than in other parts of the country, beginning about three years ago. The jobless rate plateaued a little above 5% last year and has stuck there, stubbornly, ever since…