SALEM — Oregon added another 5,700 jobs in January, but the state’s unemployment rate climbed for the first time in nearly two years, from 4.2% to 4.3%. That’s according to data out Tuesday, March 8, from the Oregon Employment Department.

The state added just over 100,000 jobs during 2021, among the fastest growth rates on record, but there are signs that Oregon’s rapid rebound from the pandemic recession has begun to slow. State economists have pushed back their forecast for when Oregon will be back to pre-COVID employment levels, from summer into fall.

Hospitality was the fastest-growing sector in January, adding 2,200 jobs. COVID-19 shutdowns clobbered restaurants, bars and hotels, and the sector still has 16% fewer workers than it did before the pandemic.

Oregon schools are another hard-hit sector that has yet to fully recover. Local education is down 11,400 jobs, 8.2%, compared to January 2020.

Oregon’s jobless rate is slightly higher than the national rate, which was 4.0% in January.

Small variations between the data sets may not be significant, though, and the employment department often makes modest revisions to each prior month’s data.

Oregon unemployment remains near a historic low and in recent months the state has had more job openings than unemployed people.

Government economists delay their monthly reports for a few weeks at the start of each year to recalibrate data from the prior year. Oregon will report February’s jobless rate in two weeks.