Pandemic Dramatically Upends Oregon's Employment Numbers

KLCC | By Brian Bull

Published May 19, 2020 at 4:06 PM PDT

“Devastating.” That’s how Oregon’s Employment Economist describes April’s unemployment figures.

Gail Krumenauer says the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly taken a toll on Oregon’s workforce.

“In a month’s time, we went from a near record low unemployment rate of 3.5 percent to the highest unemployment rate we’ve ever seen. As of April, it is 14.2 percent," explains Krumenauer.

"And that is truly unprecedented. In just a month’s time, a quarter of a million jobs were either temporarily or permanently lost in the state.”

No sector of Oregon’s economy saw gains in April. 1 out of 2 jobs in leisure and hospitality were lost.

Krumenauer says she can’t speculate on whether easing of pandemic restrictions will mean better figures for May.

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Brian Bull

Brian Bull is a contributing freelance reporter with the KLCC News department, who first began working with the station in 2016. He's a senior reporter with the Native American media organization Buffalo's Fire, and was recently a journalism professor at the University of Oregon.

In his nearly 30 years working as a public media journalist, Bull has worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional), the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.

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