Driven primarily by annual seasonal trends, initial Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims in Oregon have risen over the past two weeks. This increase was expected and falls within OED projections entering the agency’s busiest period of the year from October through February.
“As expected, we’re not seeing a major impact on our workload from the ongoing federal shutdown, but we recognize the uncertainty and financial strain this has caused for many Oregonians,” UI Director Lindsi Leahy said. “We remain ready to support Oregonians.”
OED has detailed guidance for federal employees at OED’s Federal Shutdown page.
Although federal claims data is still preliminary, new applications from federal employees have increased in recent weeks. Because federal employees represent a small share of Oregon’s workforce (about 1.5%), and the shutdown only accounts for some of those claims, the shutdown has likely played a limited role in the overall increase.
As shown in the table below, initial claims were, on average, 25 percent higher for the past two weeks compared to the final full week of September. Weekly claims have also risen during that period, but the increases have been smaller.
Initial and Weekly UI Claims – Sept. 21 – Oct. 11
| Week | Initial Claims | Percent Change | Weekly Claims | Percent Change |
| Sept. 21-27 | 2,550 | – | 33,960 | – |
| Sept. 28-Oct. 4 | 3,294 | +29% | 35,107 | +3.3% |
| Oct. 5-11 | 3,129 | -5% | 35,320 | +0.6% |
| 2-week avg. | 3,207 | +25% | 35,213 | +3.7% |
About Federal Claims
Preliminary data indicates the number of federal employees applying for benefits has also increased over the past two weeks. OED can only estimate those figures because claims that include wages from federal employers take weeks for OED to process and confirm. That delay stems from the fact that, unlike most other employers in Oregon, the federal government does not submit quarterly wage data to OED, and it often takes weeks for OED to receive that information after a federal employee files a claim.
Some initial claims with federal wages filed over the past two weeks may result from regular seasonal federal layoffs or deferred buyout agreements that expired at the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30, so OED cannot determine exactly how many are tied to the federal shutdown.
OED does track Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) claims as part of reporting to the U.S. Department of Labor, but that data takes weeks to finalize. This metric does not represent all claims from federal workers because UCFE only includes cases where all wages were from the federal government.
As of Oct. 15, OED has confirmed 118 UCFE claims for the week of Sept. 28-Oct. 4, or roughly 3.6 percent of all initial claims that week. Last week, 178 of the 3,129 initial claims (or 5.7% percent) were confirmed as UCFE. These figures will continue to change as additional information becomes available and should not be interpreted as the total number of furloughed federal employees in Oregon who have applied for benefits.
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The Oregon Employment Department (OED) is an equal opportunity agency. OED provides free help so you can use our services. Some examples are sign language and spoken-language interpreters, written materials in other languages, large print, audio, and other formats. To get help, please call 503-947-1444. TTY users call 711. You can also send an email to communications@employ.oregon.gov.
El Departamento de Empleo de Oregon (OED) es una agencia de igualdad de oportunidades. El OED proporciona ayuda gratuita para que usted pueda utilizar nuestros servicios. Algunos ejemplos son intérpretes de lengua de señas e idiomas hablados, materiales escritos en otros idiomas, letra grande, audio y otros formatos. Para obtener ayuda, por favor llame al 503-947-1444. Usuarios de TTY pueden llamar al 711. También puede enviar un correo electrónico a communications@employ.oregon.gov.
