During the COVID-19 Economic Crisis, Oregon has seen an unprecedented number of initial unemployment claims. More than 577,800 initial claims have been filed in Oregon, with nearly 196,700 filed by residents of Portland Metro.

The impact is not evenly spread across the state. While Portland Metro was home to 42% of Oregon’s jobs in 2019, it has seen just 37% of total UI claims. The disparity varies by sector.

The largest gap between the share of total jobs and the share on unemployment benefits were in Utilities (37%), Transportation and Warehousing (19%), Management of Companies (18%), and Manufacturing (18%). To date, these industries have been less impacted in Portland Metro than in Oregon as a whole.

DATE POSTED: MONDAY, MAY 11, 2020