Continued below average recovery in Portland and Oregon and declining population has lead to Portland having the most job losses in the top 50 metro areas of the country. Unemployment rates are still officially low at 3.9% because they are at the same time experiencing a population decline.

Portland’s true unemployment rate last year was 20%, compared with its official rate of nearly 3.9%, according to a study from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP).

https://www.axios.com/local/portland/2024/05/09/true-unemployment-rate-layoffs-economy