‘Limbo untenable’ for WA residents needing OR unemployment

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — With the unemployment rate above 10% in both Oregon and Washington, thousands of people rely on unemployment benefits. In this region, some people who live in Washington and work in Oregon are in “limbo” waiting for their claims to process.

On Tuesday, Washington US Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler and state senators sent a letter to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and OED Interim Director David Gerstenfeld pleading for help for those particular Washingtonians.

“Our offices have attempted to contact OED to escalate some of the most desperate cases – but we have yet to receive a response,” the letter states. “This limbo is untenable for the individuals who worked, paid taxes, and are now trying to access critical resources that Congress made available five months ago.”

Read: Letter to Oregon Governor and OED

They want Oregon officials to consider creating a channel for Washington officials to escalate claims directly to the OED for those Washington residents who need assistance.

“It’s put stress that I don’t think anybody could fathom unless they’re in the position,” said Jamie Joswick, who is still waiting for her unemployment benefits. “A lot of overwhelmingness, you know? You wake up today thinking OK, is today going to be the day that we finally get some answers?”

“It’s a failure of the system and I’m not going to pretend that Washington’s system is perfect. I mean I would give neither unemployment office a passing grade right?” Herrera Beutler told KOIN 6 News. “But to go this far, to be this many months from the onset and to still not be able to give basic information that’s accurate.”

In response, Gerstenfeld said the OED “bolstered our existing communication channels to better support the record number of people we are serving.” He pointed to the “Contact Us” form on the OED website “where people can let us know what the issue is that we need to address.”

That answer, Herrera Beutler said, is simply not good enough.

Read full letter from OED’s David Gerstenfeld at the bottom of this article

Unemployment still dismal but not as bad

Statistics from Washington state paint an improving but overall dismal picture of unemployment over the 25 weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.

Unemployment claims in Washington state dropped 16.2% from week-to-week ending August 22. But initial unemployment applications in the state are 288% above the weekly applications a year ago.

Food preparation and serving, management, construction, transportation and material moving and sales were the occupations with the highest number of initial claims that week.

The drop in claims encompasses regular unemployment, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, officials said in a release Thursday.

In raw numbers, 357,077 people filed claims in Washington between August 16-22. The state paid $182.8 million during the week — which is $15.4 million less than the previous week.

Since the pandemic began the week ending March 7, the Washington Employment Security Department has paid out more than $10.1 billion in benefits.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the July unemployment rate for Washington was 10.3% and 10.4% in Oregon. That ranked the states 35th and 36th in the country. Utah (4.5%) had the lowest unemployment rate in the country, while Massachusetts (16.1%) had the highest.

Washington Benefits Data Dashboard
Oregon Employment Department Unemployment Insurance

The state of Oregon is expected to release their latest data later in the day.

National snapshot

Just over 1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the coronavirus outbreak continues to threaten jobs even as the housing market, auto sales and other segments of the economy rebound from a springtime collapse.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of people seeking jobless aid last week dropped by 98,000 from 1.1 million the week before.

The number of initial claims has exceeded 1 million every week but one since late March. Before the coronavirus pandemic, they never topped 700,000 in a week.

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