Oregon Sees Historic Wave of Layoffs in 2025 as Unemployment Climbs
Job losses surpass Great Recession levels, signaling broader economic strain
OREGON — Oregon experienced one of its most significant years of job losses on record in 2025, with mass layoffs exceeding levels seen during the Great Recession and pushing the state’s unemployment rate to its highest point since the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to data reported by The Oregonian / OregonLive, Oregon employers disclosed nearly 9,000 mass layoffs during 2025 — an extraordinary figure by historical standards. Federal law requires employers to report only large-scale job cuts, typically whenF involving more than 50 employees or at least one-third of a workforce, meaning thousands of additional job losses tied to smaller layoffs are not publicly reported.
State employment figures show Oregon now has nearly 115,000 unemployed workers, while the statewide unemployment rate has increased by one full percentage point over the past year, reaching 5.2%. That is the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation, behind only California (5.6%) and Nevada (5.3%), according to figures cited in the Oregonian’s reporting.
Economists generally divide unemployed workers into three categories: those who lost jobs, those newly entering the labor market, and those who voluntarily quit. In the years immediately following the pandemic, Oregon’s labor market was dominated by job seekers reentering the workforce and workers leaving jobs in search of better opportunities.
As reported by The Oregonian, workers who quit their jobs accounted for roughly 5% of Oregon’s unemployed population at the end of 2020, a figure that rose to 16% by early 2024. In 2025, that trend has reversed. Fewer Oregonians are entering the labor market, fewer are quitting voluntarily, and most unemployed workers today are individuals who were laid off or fired — a shift that typically places greater pressure on unemployment benefit systems.
“What’s happening in Oregon is also happening nationally, in broad strokes,” Gail Krumenauer, an economist with the Oregon Employment Department, told The Oregonian. However, she noted that Oregon’s unemployment rate is rising faster than the national average, which stood at 4.4% in September.
One factor contributing to Oregon’s sharper labor market decline is the state’s reliance on manufacturing — particularly semiconductor production. The Oregonian reported that Intel, Oregon’s largest private employer, eliminated more than 6,000 jobs statewide over the past year, including over 3,000 layoffs in Washington County since July. While the company’s leadership has emphasized streamlining management, many of the layoffs affected factory and production workers amid declining revenues and long-standing competitive challenges.
The semiconductor industry is not alone. According to Krumenauer, food processors, forest products companies, paper manufacturers, and transportation equipment companies have all reduced staffing levels in recent months.
“There’s not really any pluses in that sector,” she said, as quoted by The Oregonian.
Job losses have been especially pronounced in Multnomah County, Oregon’s most populous county. City of Portland economists reported earlier this month that the county has lost nearly 20,000 jobs since June 2023 and approximately 40,000 jobs compared to pre-pandemic levels, figures highlighted in the Oregonian’s coverage.
While city economists did not point to a single cause, business leaders cited by The Oregonian have referenced multiple contributing factors, including the continued shift toward remote work, long-term impacts to Portland’s downtown business environment following unrest in 2020, persistent homelessness and overdose crises, and relatively high local income taxes that may deter employers.
Beyond the immediate consequences for workers, economists warn that sustained job losses pose risks to Oregon’s broader economy and public finances. With no sales tax, the state relies heavily on income taxes to fund public services — revenue that declines as employment falls.
Job losses also act as a warning signal for investors and developers. Reduced employment can slow housing construction and commercial investment, as fewer residents have the stable income needed to support new development.
City economists noted that employment levels are often among the most reliable indicators of local economic trends because of how heavily they factor into investment decisions.
For Oregon, those indicators currently point toward continued economic uncertainty.
Source & Attribution
This article is a full rewrite for HiveWire Daily based on original reporting by Mike Rogoway of The Oregonian / OregonLive, published December 28, 2025.
Original article:
https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2025/12/oregons-year-of-layoffs-2025s-historic-job-cuts-are-shaking-the-states-economy.html
Cover photo: Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
