Unless Congress acts at lightning speed, this is the last week that unemployed Oregonians are eligible for an extra $600 in weekly benefits from the federal government.
The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, or FPUC, has delivered about $2 billion dollars to Oregonians so far. The program, authorized by the CARES Act, is set to expire at the end of July.
“It certainly has been a huge impact for a lot of people who just can’t work, need to be able to pay their rent, buy groceries, buy medicine, do all of the other things that everyone has to do just to survive,” David Gerstenfeld, the Oregon Employment Department’s acting director, said at his weekly briefing.
Gerstenfeld said more than 130,000 Oregonians received the enhanced benefit last week. Even after the $600 weekly benefit expires, he expects the number of people receiving the money in the short term to rise as backlogged claims are processed and paid out.
Long term is another story.
“It is a large number of people that are going to stop getting that extra payment,” he said.
Millions of Americans who have been driven out of work by the coronavirus pandemic are waiting to see if Congress renews the benefit in some form.
But the hard math is already upon them.
According to Gerstenfeld, the CARES Act ends the supplemental $600 for any unemployment benefits claimed July 26 or later. In Oregon, that means no extra money for the last calendar week of July.
Gerstenfeld indicated that if Congress passed a short-term extension of the program in the next few days, his agency may still have time to implement it without interrupting payments.
“Anything other than that, unfortunately, we’re likely already at a point where there would be some interruption,” he said, “because it would take some changes to our computer coding.”
He said that interruption could range from “very brief” to “very significant,” depending on the policy enacted.
Meanwhile, August rent looms for many people receiving or waiting on benefits.
Gerstenfeld also provided a range of other updates about claims processing and department staffing. Among them:
- The Oregon Employment Department has now paid out roughly $3.2 billion in unemployment benefits since the pandemic hit. Nearly two-thirds of that is the $2 billion in supplemental federal payments of $600 per week.
- 16 department workers have tested positive for COVID-19 so far. A Gresham WorkSource office that closed for deep cleaning after a coronavirus outbreak is slated to reopen Friday. This week, the agency also distributed face coverings to employment offices statewide. Employees do not have to wear them while seated at their desks. However, masks are now required in common areas and during close interactions within or near workstations.
- The employment agency now has more than one thousand people processing unemployment claims.
- Gerstenfeld said the agency is "turning the corner" in its processing of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, claims for gig workers and the self-employed. The department has received about 106,000 PUA applications since April. About 26,500 people are receiving payment so far. Despite missing PUA processing goals for several weeks running, Gerstenfeld said the agency's speed is increasing. He said it processed more than 7,700 PUA claims by the end of the day Tuesday, putting it on track to exceed this week's target.
- The U.S. Department of Labor issued guidance Tuesday that the Oregon Employment Department believes will allow PUA applicants to report their net earnings each week, instead of their gross earnings. It is a detailed change which, if enacted, could result in bigger benefit checks to some PUA recipients. Gerstenfeld said the agency would provide an update on this next week.