Oregon jobless rate hits 8.4 percent

SALEM — Oregon's unemployment rate is down to 8.4 percent, at the lower end of a range where it has been bouncing around since the beginning of 2012.

The state Employment Department also says job creation figures for November were improved from a month earlier: Payroll grew by 600 jobs in November after a loss of 800 in October. The October number was revised after closer examination to a third of original estimate of 2,400 jobs lost.

The department's Tuesday report was one of a string in 2012 marked by choppy figures as Oregon's economy recovered slowly from the Great Recession.

The unemployment rate has ranged from 8.4 percent to 8.9 percent in 2012.

Overall, the number of people unemployed has dropped by more than 12,000 since November 2011, to about 160,000.