Oregon jobless claims soar amid COVID, Yamhill County climbs by 1,277

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Initial unemployment claims in Oregon have spiked to more than a quarter-million in the past three weeks due to the new coronavirus, state officials said Thursday.

The Oregon Employment Department has received 269,000 initial claims for jobless benefits. For comparison, net job losses in Oregon totaled 147,800 for the duration of the Great Recession.

In Yamhill County, there were 1,277 new unemployment claims last week. The total over the past three weeks is 2,672.

The agency paid $28 million in benefits to Oregonians the week of March 29. The leisure and hospitality sector, which includes hotels and restaurants, continued to see the greatest number of initial claims for unemployment benefits."