The Salem Center had many stores temporarily close to help slow the spread of COVID-19. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter)
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In a possible sign that the economic damage from the COVID-19 outbreak is slowing, numbers released Thursday show that initial claims for unemployment dropped in Marion and Polk counties as well as for the rest of the state.
For the week starting April 5, 3,062 people from Marion County filed initial claims for unemployment down slightly from the 3,657 filed for the week of March 29, according to numbers from the Oregon Employment Department. Polk County also saw a small decrease with 762 claims filed last week down from the 858 filed the previous week.
Last week, 46,126 people in Oregon filed initial claims down from the 52,584 from the previous week.
While the numbers show fewer people seeking benefits, the most recent claims are on top of a total of 243,000 initial claims filed during the prior three weeks, according to a press release. The department has hired additional staff to process the backlog of claims.
According to a department press release, it began sending out an additional $600 per week to those collecting benefits as part of the federal relief package. The department paid $23 million in benefits to Oregonians during the week of March 29. The following week it more than quadrupled benefits, paying out $97 million.
The most recent numbers show the hospitality industry continuing to take the biggest hit as restaurants and bars have closed or restricted service. For the week of April 5, 12,318 workers in the industry lost their jobs statewide. In total, 52,901 workers in the industry have lost jobs since March 15.
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