PORTLAND, Ore. — Another 53,800 Oregonians filed for unemployment benefits last week, according to statistics released Thursday by the Oregon Employment Department.
There have been 296,800 Oregonians who have filed unemployment claims in the past four weeks. OEM revised its numbers from the past three weeks, down from 276,000 to 243,000. Here's a look at how many people have filed jobless claims the past four weeks, according to OEM:
- Week ending April 11: 53,800
- Week ending April 4: 78,100
- Week ending March 28: 88,600
- Week ending March 21: 76,500
Last week, $97 million in unemployment benefits were paid out to Oregonians, more than four times the $23 million paid out the previous week.
The Oregon Employment Department has detailed information for 47,700 of the 53,800 claims from last week. The following data is derived from information gleaned from the 47,700 claims for which OED has detailed information.
The counties with the largest number of claims were Multnomah County (10,200), Washington County (6,000), and Lane County (4,600).
For the third week in a row, the highest number of claims — 12,300 last week — continue to come from the leisure and hospitality sector, which includes hotels and restaurants. There have been nearly 53,000 claims in leisure and hospitality in the past four weeks.
Other industries heavily impacted over the past four weeks include health care and social assistance (25,800) and retail trade (19,700).
Nationally, a staggering 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits in the past four weeks. Numbers released Thursday morning showed that 5.2 million American workers applied for unemployment benefits last week.
This marks the worst stretch of U.S. job losses on record. It means that roughly one in seven workers have lost their jobs in that time.
Resources
To file an online claim for unemployment benefits, go to Oregon.gov/employ or call 1-877-FILE-4-UI. For help finding jobs and training resources, contact your local WorkSource Oregon center or go to WorkSourceOregon.org.
Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities. Contact: (503) 947-1794. For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, call 711 Telecommunications Relay Services.