Lincoln County is recovering from the economic downturn, just at a slower pace than the rest of the state according to the Oregon Employment Department. Lincoln County added 90 payroll jobs in 2014. This followed a gain of 190 in 2013. The job count for February 2015 was 110 more than February 2014. This is evidence that the county is still adding jobs, albeit at a slow pace. February’s job count showed that the county had gained back about 450 of the jobs it lost from February 2008. Unfortunately that means that the county has another 1,200 jobs to go before getting back to its pre-recession level.

It is likely that the pace of job growth will increase. If it doesn’t, it could take the county another six to seven years to recover from the recession. Most industries in Lincoln County are still well below their pre-recession highs. Construction in particular has not recovered from the housing boom and may not for a long time. The county’s large leisure and hospitality industry was also down a couple of hundred jobs from its pre-recession high in February.

Historically the county has had the ability to add jobs rapidly, but so far has not managed to do that as it recovers from the Great Recession. Wages are increasing in northwest Oregon – but not always enough to keep up with inflation. From 2004 through 2014 the average wage – including full and part-time jobs increased 28 percent in Lincoln County. Lincoln County had a gain in real wages; and increase of 1.4 percent over the 10 years.