In the first two weeks after Governor Brown issues a stay at home order in Oregon, there has been a sharp increase in the number of initial unemployment claims. 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 36% 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 (42%), Educational Services (45%), Transportation and Warehousing (22%), and Construction (15%). So far, these industries have been less impacted in Portland Metro than in Oregon as a whole.
The three sectors where Portland Metro experienced a larger share of UI claims relative to share of total workforce are Accommodations and Food Service, Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting, and Other Services. In each case, the discrepancy was small.
