Oregon's unemployment rate drops but spike is expected as freeze begins

Oregon's unemployment rate dropped to 6.9% in October, but employment officials are concerned about those numbers spiking in response to the two-week freeze put in place throughout the state.

"We are seeing the number of claims filed go up. Most of that are not brand new claims from people who haven't filed before. Most of what we're seeing is people who received benefits earlier this year now needing to resume benefits," said David Gerstenfeld, Acting Director of the Oregon Employment Department.

According to Gerstenfeld, Oregon has paid out more in unemployment benefits in the past eight months than they had in the prior nine years put together.

"The unemployment insurance system is facing an absolutely unprecedented demand for paying benefits," Gerstenfeld said. "The pace of recovery remains significantly slower now than it was during the summer months. We've only regained about half of the jobs that we lost in March and April."

Making matters worse is that the freeze is coming at the same time as typical seasonal unemployment claims increase. Gerstenfeld estimates that an additional 51,000 people may be making claims as a result of the freeze in Oregon.

Newly unemployed workers usually have to wait a week before being eligible for benefits in what is known as the waiting week period, but that requirement was waived by Congress in March. Oregon is the only state in the county that hasn't distributed those waiting week payments.

"Not only are we on track to distribute those waiting week payments by the end of November, but we are in active testing now and are confident we will be able to begin before Thanksgiving," Gerstenfeld said.

If you or someone you know has had a job loss, go to unemployment.oregon.gov to file a claim.