SALEM — The Salem area’s unemployment rate eased in April, but the latest labor data show a local economy that is not moving in one direction.
The Salem metropolitan statistical area, which includes Marion and Polk counties, posted a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4.9% in April, down slightly from a revised 5.0% in March. The rate remains higher than a year ago, when Salem’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.4%.
That means Salem is doing slightly better than Oregon as a whole, where the statewide unemployment rate held at 5.2% in April, but still trails the national labor market. The U.S. unemployment rate was 4.3% in April.
The headline number gives only part of the picture. Total nonfarm employment in the Salem area rose by 800 jobs in April, but that was slightly below the 900-job increase normally expected for the month. After seasonal adjustment, nonfarm payroll employment declined by 100 jobs from March to April.
Still, Salem’s labor market remains larger than it was before the pandemic. Employment is now 9.4% above the February 2020 level, representing 16,400 more jobs than before the pandemic disruption. Over the past year, seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment in the Salem area is up 3,100 jobs, or 1.7%.
The private sector carried most of the month’s hiring. Private employers added 900 jobs in April, led by professional and business services, which gained 500 jobs. Leisure and hospitality added 200 jobs, and construction also added 200.
Those gains are worth watching because they point to different parts of the local economy. Professional and business services can reflect office, administrative and contract work. Leisure and hospitality tends to move with consumer spending, tourism and seasonal activity. Construction is tied closely to development, housing, public works and private investment.
But the monthly gains do not erase weaker spots. Health care and social assistance, one of the area’s largest employment sectors, lost 100 jobs in April, though it remained up 700 jobs from a year earlier. Leisure and hospitality, despite adding jobs in April, remained down 600 jobs from April 2025. Professional and business services also remained below last year’s level, down 800 jobs.
Government employment slipped by 100 jobs in April, with state government accounting for the decline. Local government employment was unchanged for the month but remained up 1,100 jobs from a year earlier, including a 1,200-job increase in local education.
For Salem employers and workers, the April numbers suggest a labor market that is still adding jobs over the year, but at a slower and uneven pace. The area is not showing broad collapse, but it is also not showing the kind of strong, across-the-board hiring that would make the higher unemployment rate easy to dismiss.
Sources:
Oregon Employment Department / QualityInfo, “Employment in Salem MSA (Marion and Polk Counties): April 2026,” May 27, 2026.
Qualityinfo.org
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “The Employment Situation — April 2026.”
