Start of school year spurs OR job growth

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - The start of the school year helped fuel Oregon’s job growth in September as more educators were hired.

The report released Tuesday shows most of the net gain of 7,185 jobs over August was in government, which added 3,300 jobs.

The majority of new government jobs were for local education.

The state Employment Department says professional and businesses services added 1,200 jobs.

There were job losses in construction, leisure and hospitality and in financial services.

For the year to date, Oregon’s job growth rate is 3.5 percent, compared to 1.7 percent nationally.

In September, Oregon’s unemployment rate was 5.5 percent, just a tick about August’s 5.4 percent rate.