Unemployment numbers were mostly flat around Northeast Oregon in May, with a couple of outliers: Grant County’s jobless rate dropped by a full percentage point, while Union County’s climbed by just under a point.

Across the region, unemployment ranged from a low of 3.2% in Morrow County to a high of 4.8% in Grant and Union counties, according to the latest data from the Oregon Employment Department. For comparison, the state and national average unemployment rates for May were both 3.7%.

The jobless rate dropped from April to May in four of the six counties in the northeast corner of the state while holding steady in one and rising in another. The year-over-year comparisons were decidedly mixed, with unemployment down in three counties and up in three others in the last 12 months.

The county-by-county unemployment numbers for May:

• Baker: 3.7%, down from 3.9% in April and up from 3.6% in May 2023.

• Grant: 4.8%, down from 5.8% in April and down from 5.0% in May 2023.

• Morrow: 3.2%, down from 3.3% in April and up from 2.8% in May 2023.

• Umatilla: 3.4%, unchanged from 3.4% in April and up from 3.2% in May 2023.

• Union: 4.8%, up from 4.0% in April and up from 3.3% in May 2023.

• Wallowa: 4.0%, down from 4.4% in April and down from 4.1% in May 2023.

When adjusted for normal seasonal fluctuations, the numbers are remarkably consistent across the region, with the jobless rate in five of the six counties entirely unchanged from April to May: 4.5% in Baker County, 4.9% in Grant, 3.7% in Morrow, 3.9% in Umatilla and 4.3% in Wallowa. 

The only county that showed any change in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was Union, where it climbed slightly to 4.6% in May from 4.3% in April.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May was 4.0%, while the average for all of Oregon was 4.2%.