Oregon's unemployment rate jumped up to 5.9 percent last month. That's despite job gains over the past year.
The Employment Department said Tuesday the state added 4,600 jobs last month.
Nick Beleiciks is a state employment economist.
Beleiciks: "Quite a few industries added a lot of jobs. Five major industries added at lease 1000 jobs with construction leading the way by adding 2,300 jobs, followed by professional and business services which added 1,700 jobs."
The weaker industries included government and leisure and hospitality.
Beleiciks says the increase in the unemployment rate last month can be attributed to people starting to look for work and others voluntarily leaving their jobs to perhaps find a better one.
