Payroll Employment in the Rogue Valley: Year End Review 2016

Jackson County enjoyed its fifth consecutive year of payroll employment growth. Momentum has been gaining the past three years. Job growth rates increased from 2.3 percent in 2014 to 3.1 percent in 2015, and were even stronger in 2016 with a 3.5 percent increase in nonfarm employment.

Josephine County saw payroll employment gains in five of the past six years. In a bit of a contrast to Jackson County, Josephine’s job growth momentum appears to be slightly waning since 2014, when the growth rate hit its recent peak of 4.3 percent in 2014. In 2015 Josephine employment growth fell to 3.2 percent, a healthy but slower increase. In 2016, job counts were still growing, but at a 2.4 percent pace on an annual average basis. Read more….