Oregon’s unemployment rate dropped to 4% in February, from 4.2%, as revised, in January. The Oregon Employment Department says the rate is now at its lowest level since prior to the pandemic-induced recession in March 2020 when it was 3.5%. Department senior economic analyst Anna Johnson says the state saw stronger job gains in February. In February, 59,000 Oregonians had been unemployed for less than six months, which was near the lowest number in two decades. Meanwhile, 24,000 Oregonians had been unemployed for more than six months, as the number of long-term unemployed decreased rapidly since hitting a recent peak of 65,000 in April 2021