Oregon's Unemployment Rate Spikes

Oregon's unemployment rate jumped up to 7.3% in October due to the lack of consumer spending. That is 0.9% more than the national average which is 6.5%. Consumers are closing their wallets instead of spending which has led to a loss of 14,100 jobs since September. That is the worst seasonally adjusted monthly decline since February of 1981.

According to this article in the Portland Tribune, there are about 134,096 Oregonians without work and nearly every sector of the states economy has shed jobs last month. Some of these losses were more unexpected than others. With the downturn in employment causing such a scare for the future, it has increased number of first time claims for unemployment insurance. According to John Young, a Portland-area unemployment insurance claim manager,

Unemployment insurance is up 27 percent from a year ago and about 60,000 Oregonians are receiving unemployment benefits, with nearly 1,200 exhausting their 26-week benefits every week.

With that said here are some FAQs about extended benefits (EB) and Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) from Oregon.gov.

The Employment Guide strives to do its part everyday, as does Wiser Worker and Healthcareerweb. Times are hard these days, so Portland, tell us how you plan on tackling this crisis in the comments section below.