Oregon and Washington Have 26% of the US Total of Continuing Workshare Unemployment Insurance Claims.

The latest weekly unemployment claims data provided a series of Workshare (Short Term Compensation) program surprises.

Oregon and Washington Reported Continued Workshare Claims Jumped by 80% and 87% in One Week
First, the reported count of Oregon Workshare continuing unemployment insurance claims jumped by 80% in one week from 28,498 to 51,173.

Second, a look at the reported count of Washington Workshare continuing unemployment insurance claims showed an even larger increase of 87% from 33,392 to 62,601. (This was not totally unexpected as news reports had indicated that the state government was in the process of adding 40,000 state workers to the 100% federally funded Workshare program).

In both states continuing WS UI claims substantially eclipsed counts in other larger states like California, Florida, Texas, and New York. 

3 States Account For About Half of All US Continuing Workshare Claims
Third, looking at Oregon and Washington counts and the US total I was able to calculate that between Oregon and Washington more than one in every four (26%) of all US continuing work share unemployment insurance claims came from these two states. 

Adding in Michigan’s even higher 22% of the US total these three states accounted for nearly half (48%) of all continuing Workshare unemployment insurance claims in the country.

100% Federally Funded Workshare Is Saving State and Local Budget Costs/
I Have a Longstanding Request for the % of Oregon Workers Covered by Workshare Who are State or Local Employees
In the case of Michigan and Washington I am sure the use of 100% federally funded Workshare is being used as a way of saving state and local government budget dollars. Not incidentally the $600 bonus UI payment has largely meant no pay reduction for state and local employees covered by Workshare agreements. (This supplement is scheduled to expire in ONE week and it might have a dramatic negative impact on the number of continuing WS UI claims).

I know Oregon public agencies and school districts are using Workshare. The City of Portland, Portland Public Schools and more than 10 other school districts and universities have been using Workshare as a way of saving state and local budget resources. I applaud these efforts.

I am continuing to try to get from the Oregon Employment Department the full scope of  Oregon public agency Workshare use, and have been repeatedly asking for the percentage of workers covered by Workshare agreements who are state of local government employees. 

State Table and Map, Continuing WS Claims
The table and map in the 2 page PDF file HERE and embedded below show counts for all states with the percentage of the national total found in the map.


Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.