March 2026 Central Oregon Economic Indicators

By Anastasia Casteel, Regional Economist, Oregon Employment Department

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Topic of the Month: Oregon Wages in Second Quarter 2025

Every quarter, Oregon employers are required to file unemployment insurance tax reports which list every job covered by unemployment insurance, the wages paid, and the hours worked. These quarterly records cover more than two million individuals employed in the state excluding self-employed workers and federal government workers. Using the data from these reports, the Oregon Employment Department calculates hourly wages for each job by industry and firm size. These statistics are not directly comparable to the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) and Current Employment Statistics (CES) data.

Oregon had 2.02 million workers covered by the state’s unemployment insurance system during the second quarter of 2025. This was an increase of 11,600, or 0.6%, from the same quarter of the previous year. They earned a total of $34.8 billion, with an average wage of $17,257 per worker for the quarter. The median hourly wage during the quarter was $28.38.

Oregon employers reported over 2.2 million jobs during the second quarter of 2025. (Individuals with multiple jobs are counted for each job they hold.) The median wage increased by $0.31 over the year, after being adjusted for inflation according to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Across the major industry groups, most industries experienced real wage growth, meaning that the median wage increased more than inflation.

State government had the largest real gain in median wage from second quarter 2024 to second quarter 2025 (+$4.28; +9.0%), followed by local government (+$1.71; +4.4%). While most industries kept pace with inflation, other services and leisure and hospitality recorded declines in real median wages compared with the same quarter a year ago.

More information on Oregon Wages and Hours in Second Quarter 2025 can be found at QualityInfo.org.

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Articles of Interest

“Per Capita Personal Income in Oregon’s Counties,” by Molly Hendrickson, Oregon Employment Department.

“Online Job Ad Volume Largely Unchanged in 2025,” Luke Coury, Oregon Employment Department.

“Oregon’s Growing Hispanic Workforce,” by Luke Coury, Oregon Employment Departmen

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