April 16, 2020 10:40 a.m.
Unemployment benefit payments have quadrupled in Oregon.
An update from the Oregon Employment Department said during the week of April 5th to April 11th, the department received 53,800 initial claims for unemployment benefits. That’s in addition to the revised total of 243,000 initial claims filed during the prior three weeks.
The update said the OED continues to prioritize efforts that can get the most benefits to the greatest number of affected Oregonians the fastest. With the first CARES Act payments on April 10th, Oregon is among the early states getting an extra $600 per week out to those out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the week of March 29th to April 4th, the department paid $23 million in benefits to Oregonians. During the week of April 5th to April 11th that more than quadrupled to $97 million in benefits paid.
During the week starting April 5th the leisure and hospitality sector, which includes hotels and restaurants, continued to see the greatest number on initial claims for unemployment benefits at 12,300. Since March 15th there have been about 52,900 claims filed in that sector. Health care and social assistance with 25,800 claims, and retail trade with 19,700 claims are other sectors with large totals of initial weekly claims in the past four weeks. The update said that every sector has seen additional claim activity.
More initial claim data by industry and area can be found at: https://www.qualityinfo.org/covid-19.