Oregon’s unemployment rate for June dipped to 3.5% from the 3.7% recorded in May — the rare occasion when the state’s monthly rate was a tad less than the national average of 3.6%.

The Employment Department said in a statement that Oregon’s rate has now fallen for the fifth consecutive month since January, when it was 4.8%. Oregon’s lowest-ever rates were recorded in November and December 2019, when rates were 3.4%, based on records kept in their current form since 1976.

Oregon’s seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment rose in June by 5,700 jobs, following a revised gain of 4,200 jobs in May. June’s job gain was the largest monthly increase since January, when 9,600 jobs were added.

There are some signs of slowing in Oregon’s rate of job growth, however.

Payroll employment has grown by 2.3% over the past 12 months. Over-the-year job growth decelerated to about 2% in the past five months from 12-month growth rates that were above 3% during the economic recovery period, which included much of the prior two years.

Though Oregon has not yet matched a historic low rate of 3.4% or dipped below 3%, a July 21 statement from the White House said that the declining trend was in line with President Joe Biden’s economic policies — which are now dubbed as “Bidenomics.”

The statement, issued two days after Oregon released its monthly report:

“Last month, unemployment rates matched a series low in eight states, set a new series low in nine states, and 24 states had unemployment rates at or below 3 percent — that’s Bidenomics in action and further evidence that President Biden’s plan is growing the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down.

“Since taking office, President Biden has created over 13 million new jobs nationwide, brought annual inflation down to 3% after falling for a year straight, and has sustained the longest period of national unemployment below 4% in over half a century.”

Over-the-month job gains in Oregon were largest in government, 2,400 jobs; other services, 1,800; leisure and hospitality, 1,600, and professional and business services, 1,500. Declines were largest in wholesale trade 1,300 jobs; transportation, warehousing, and utilities 1,000; and manufacturing, 1,000.

Since June 2022, several industries have continued to expand rapidly, while others have been relatively flat or declining.

Construction, which added 6,500 jobs (5.7%), grew at one of the fastest rates of the major industries. In addition, each of three major industries expanded by close to 4%, as each added close to 10,000 jobs: Leisure and hospitality; health care and social assistance, and government. However, a few industries cut jobs by about 2,000 each in the past 12 months: Manufacturing, 1.1%; wholesale trade, 1.9%, and transportation, warehousing, and utilities, 3.0%.