As shutdown hits 3-week mark, here’s a new look at the number of Oregon, local federal workers and their pay
KTVZ
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — With unemployment reports paused due to the 3-week-old federal government shutdown, Oregon Employment Department Regional Economist Nicole Ramos instead provided a look Tuesday at how many federal workers there are in the state and in Central Oregon, and their pay.
Here’s that report:
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suspended the monthly employment and unemployment reports for the nation, states, and metropolitan areas as of Oct. 1, 2025. Oregon’s monthly jobs and unemployment rate for September are unavailable at this time. In the meantime, we will highlight data that we continue to produce and share when it becomes available. One such topic is federal government employment.
Statewide and Regional Federal Government Jobs
Oregon had an average of 29,000 federal government jobs covered by unemployment benefits during the first half of 2025. That accounted for about 1.5% of all jobs in the state.
The federal government share of all jobs was much higher in some rural counties. This time last year, the top 10 counties by share of all jobs in federal government were rural areas. More than 15% of all jobs in Sherman County were in federal government. The next-largest shares were in Grant (9%), Harney (8%), and Lake (8%) counties.
Federal government employment in Crook County accounted for 4.2% of all county employment, representing 321 covered positions and placing it among the top five Oregon counties with the highest proportion of federal jobs relative to total county employment.
In comparison, 1.3% of all jobs in Jefferson County were in the federal sector. Deschutes County had the lowest share, with 1.1% of all fourth-quarter covered jobs last year classified as federal government positions. Still, in terms of absolute numbers, Deschutes County had the highest count of federal workers in Central Oregon, with 1,022 federal jobs.
More recently, and not directly comparable due to seasonal differences between quarters, Deschutes County averaged 1,052 federal payroll jobs in the second quarter of 2025. By June 2025, there were 1,066 federal jobs, 32 fewer than in the same month the previous year.
In June, federal payroll employment in Jefferson County was 100—nine more than in June 2024. In Crook County, it was 347, a decrease of 12 from the previous year. Federal employment in this region typically peaks in the third quarter and begins to decline in the fourth quarter, though.
Federal government jobs also tend to pay relatively high wages. Looking at annual average wages, jobs on federal government payrolls in Oregon paid nearly $98,500 in 2024. That was 38% higher than the average annual wage for all jobs in Oregon.
Crook County had one of the smallest wage gaps between federal and overall covered employment, ranking third lowest in the state. There, federal workers earned just 8% more than the countywide average.
In contrast, in both Deschutes and Crook counties the wage gap was larger than average. In 2024, federal jobs in Deschutes County paid 48% more than the average for all jobs in the county. Similarly, federal payroll jobs in Jefferson County paid 43% more than the countywide average.
For more about federal government jobs in Oregon, click here.
Next Press Releases
The Oregon Employment Department will publish the latest Oregon Job Vacancy Survey report on Oct. 23, and the next update on statewide trends on Wednesday, Nov. 19. We will update our schedule of future releases as federal services return.
If you have questions about the South Central economy, feel free to reach out. We’re still at work providing quality information so employers and job seekers can make informed decisions. The most current data remains last month’s report, highlighting August employment figures. That data is available at qualityinfo.org.