Park Avenue West Tower - 4
Construction continued this spring at the Park Avenue West Tower in downtown Portland.
(Mark Graves/The Oregonian)
A new business survey suggests private-sector hiring in Oregon held steady in June, keeping alive a months-long streak of job growth.
Payroll firm ADP said Oregon private employers added nearly 3,800 new jobs last month, just 200 fewer than in May. The estimates arrive one week before the state employment report, which also covers the public sector.
The ADP data focuses only on private firms and often varies from official figures. However, it offers early insight into hiring trends.
The report shows hiring increased last month in each of the 29 states that ADP tracks. Western states added a total 59,000 new jobs, according to the new figures.
If Oregon's job growth proves to be true for June, the month would mark one full year of employment gains. That would be a clear contrast to prior years, when the state struggled to mount any sort of a steady recovery.
Hiring started to accelerate last summer and spread to rural Oregon. The labor pool also is beginning to expand, a sign that discouraged workers may be re-entering the job market.
Private firms are responsible for nearly all of that growth. State analysts say the sector expanded 3 percent, or by 41,000 jobs, between May 2013 and May 2014.
The state will issue June employment figures Tuesday.
-- Molly Young