Oregon’s Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance
May 22, 2020 Public health measures to restrict the spread of COVID-19 began in Oregon in mid-March. One of the most immediate visible impacts of these measures has been mass layoffs. Social distancing practices and workplace and gathering changes have severely impacted business practices in all industries around the state. Now that two months of data about initial claims for unemployment insurance are available, we can take a comprehensive look at how different industries have been impacted.From March 15 through May 16, 2020, the Oregon Employment Department received about 412,000 initial claims for traditional Unemployment Insurance. This does not even include claims for the newly implemented Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which covers the self-employed, contract workers, and gig workers. Currently, we have detailed data for about 303,200 of the claims that have been processed. This data comes from the Program for Measuring Insured Employed Statistics (PROMIS).

Based on its share of employment in Oregon, the accommodation and food services industry has been hit the hardest. In 2019, this industry made up 9.7 percent of total employment, but it accounts for 23.3 percent of initial claims. On the other end of the spectrum, professional and technical services, public administration, and educational services have fewer initial claims for Unemployment Insurance relative to their share of employment. Workers in these industries may be able to work from home or maintain social distance in the workplace more easily than in the hardest hit industries.

Industries that on average pay between $40,000 and $55,000 annually represented 28.5 percent of initial unemployment insurance claims and 33.3 percent of 2019 employment in Oregon. Industries with an average wage between $55,000 and $70,000 represented 7.9 percent of unemployment insurance initial claims and 10.3 percent of 2019 employment. The industries paying on average over $70,000, like management of companies and professional and technical services, only had 18.5 percent of the initial unemployment insurance claims over the past two months and 27.3 percent of 2019 employment.
