Oregon employers are advertising fewer jobs than a year ago, but recruiting difficulties continue to leave positions unfilled across the state. In Southern Oregon, hiring in health services has offset losses in retail, manufacturing and hospitality, leaving Josephine and Jackson counties with slightly fewer payroll jobs than last summer.
The slowdown comes as small businesses nationally have reduced their hiring activity. Fifty-one percent of owners surveyed by the National Federation of Independent Business were hiring or attempting to hire in September, down five percentage points from August. Nearly nine out of 10 businesses recruiting employees reported few or no qualified applicants.
Oregon’s private employers reported approximately 45,400 vacancies during spring 2026, an 11% decline from spring 2025. Despite that reduction, employers classified 61% of openings as difficult to fill. The figures place recruiting problems alongside a contraction in available jobs, with businesses still seeking employees even as overall demand for workers has weakened.
Health care and social assistance accounted for approximately 10,400 of Oregon’s spring vacancies, the largest share of any industry. Leisure and hospitality followed with approximately 6,000 openings, while construction employers sought workers for another 4,800 positions. Most vacancies were for full-time, permanent employment.
The average advertised starting wage was $26.77 an hour, and approximately 61% of openings required previous work experience. Oregon recorded about two unemployed residents for every private-sector vacancy in April, yet employers continued to encounter difficulty filling a majority of advertised positions.
The quarterly Oregon Employment Department survey did not establish a single cause for those difficulties. Qualifications, pay, schedules and location can differ from one opening to another, and the statewide totals do not identify which conditions prevented particular employers from completing a hire.
Nationally, the share of small-business owners reporting unfilled openings fell three percentage points in September to a seasonally adjusted 32%. That remained eight points above the historical average. Across all respondents, 25% reported few qualified applicants and 20% reported none.
The NFIB report, released October 1, drew on 411 responses from member businesses surveyed through September 28. Its findings cover the national small-business sector. The Oregon office distributed the results without a separate estimate for employers within the state.
Businesses’ plans to add workers held steady despite the decline in recruiting activity. A seasonally adjusted net 17% of owners expected to create jobs during the following three months, unchanged from August. Labor quality or availability ranked as the most important operating problem for 26% of respondents, up three percentage points.
Labor costs ranked first for 6% of owners, down one point to the lowest level since December 2020. Compensation increases nevertheless continued: a seasonally adjusted net 28% reported raising compensation in September, while a net 20% planned increases over the following three months. Both readings remained above their historical averages.
In Josephine County, gains in private education and health services were insufficient to prevent a small annual payroll decline. The sector added 360 jobs between August 2025 and August 2026, while professional and business services gained 80. Leisure and hospitality lost 220 positions, financial activities shed 60 and retail trade declined by 50.
The county finished August with an estimated 26,830 payroll jobs, unchanged from July and down 70, or 0.3%, over the year. Its seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 7%, below the 7.4% recorded in August 2025.
Jackson County experienced a similar division between expanding health services and losses elsewhere. Private education and health services added 1,400 jobs over the year, while retail trade lost 710, manufacturing shed 390 and construction declined by 140. Government employment fell by another 270.
Total payroll employment in Jackson County reached 91,410 in August, down 200 jobs, or 0.2%, from a year earlier. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 5.7%, unchanged from July and slightly below the August 2025 rate of 5.8%.
Recruiting problems in the Rogue Valley predate the latest national hiring slowdown. Regional employers reported an estimated 3,787 vacancies at any given time during 2025, with 69% classified as difficult to fill. Approximately two-thirds required previous experience, according to the Employment Department’s regional vacancy research.
More than a quarter of those openings had remained vacant for at least 60 days. Employers classified 91% of that group as difficult to fill, documenting prolonged searches for workers across Jackson and Josephine counties. Health care and social assistance accounted for 1,145 vacancies, the largest industry total.
The county employment reports cover businesses of different sizes as well as government agencies. They do not attribute local payroll losses specifically to small businesses or establish that weak sales, operating expenses or applicant shortages caused individual employers to reduce staffing.
Federal figures released October 2 also recorded limited employment growth. National nonfarm payrolls increased by 29,000 jobs in September, while unemployment stood at 4.2%. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics described both measures as little changed, with average hourly earnings rising 3% over the year.
Oregon’s September employment figures are scheduled for release October 14, followed by county results October 20. Those reports will provide the next accounting of payroll gains and losses following an August in which health services continued adding workers while several major Southern Oregon industries employed fewer people than a year earlier.