Clark County’s job market continued to improve during May, and many sectors, including retail trade, are back to — or even better than — before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Employers in the county added 500 seasonally adjusted jobs last month, and unadjusted jobs rose by 1,400 for a total of 164,900 jobs.
“I’m very happy that the recovery continued in May,” said Scott Bailey, regional economist for Southwest Washington. “It’s more like a normal month. But we need some extraordinary months. That’s true all over the country. I’m counting our blessings that we’re doing better than the state and nation.”
The county’s job market is 3.7 percent below levels seen before the pandemic, a gap of 6,400 jobs. If the county continues to add 500 jobs a month, the full job market will recover in about a year, presuming there’s no population growth.
“At this rate, it’s going to take a whole year to get that back to where we were,” Bailey said.
The retail industry’s jobs increased by 500 last month, bringing it basically back to where it was before the pandemic. Other industries back to normal are transportation services, information services, health care and social assistance.
Construction jobs increased by 400, and accommodations and food services added 100 jobs over the month; however, the latter industry is still down by 2,400 jobs, a 17 percent drop.
The industries that have grown during the pandemic include:
• Professional services, up 500 jobs, a 5.6 percent increase.
• Federal government, up 100 jobs, a 3.7 percent increase.
• Finance and insurance, up 200, a 2.7 percent increase.
• Construction, mining and logging, up 100 jobs, a 0.5 percent increase.
In the last 15 months, the county lost 6,400 jobs, which is 3.7 percent of its February 2020 employment, Bailey said. That was better than the nation, down 5 percent; the state, down 4.9 percent; Oregon, down 5.5 percent; and the Portland metro area, down 6.5 percent.
