PORTLAND — Week by week, fewer Oregonians are signing up for initial unemployment checks, but economists say the numbers are still high.

Statistics released Thursday show more than 9,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the most recent week — a number economists watch closely.

An Oregon state economist said the number of first-time claims has remained below 10,000 for two weeks running — the first time that’s happened in almost a year and an indication the recession is easing.

But analyst Josh Lehner of the Office of Economic Analysis said it’s troubling that the number of first-time claims has been high for so long.

First-time claims peaked late last year at more than 21,000 in one week — a number comparable to the number of people living in Forest Grove or Ashland. Even now, it’s still nearly twice as high as in similar periods of 2006 and 2007, during decidedly better economic times.

“All the signs are pointing to another jobless recovery,” Lehner said Thursday.

Donna Bottom of Portland, who began drawing unemployment checks in May of $205 a week, said she’s finding fierce competition and large fields of applicants as she looks for a job.

At 57, she was laid off as a prep cook at an assisted living facility. She moved to Oregon three years ago from Nebraska to be with her daughter. Since then, she’s gotten engaged, but marriage plans are on hold while she tries to get a job, preferably as a dietary manager.

“Every week I go out there and hit it again. Nothing. I hit it again. Nothing,” she said Thursday at a WorkSource Oregon jobs center in southeast Portland.

Tim Duy, a University of Oregon economics professor, uses the initial claims as part of his index of Oregon economic indicators, which points to an end of the recession. But, he said, the number of initial jobless claims tells a story of struggling businesses and suggests a lack of job growth even as the economy begins to expand.

“Obviously, firms are firing people left and right, and it’s only because they’re trying to get demand and staffing aligned,” he said.

About 175,000 Oregonians are drawing unemployment checks, according to the figures released Thursday.

The total number of people employed in Oregon has shrunk by more than 100,000 since the recession began and stands at about 1.6 million on nonfarm payrolls, according to the most recent statistics. The state’s economic forecast envisions a net job loss of 126,000 before employment begins growing again.