BUSINESS
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, JuNE 16, 2021
Lawmakers seek end to supplemental unemployment benefits
are coming down and hospitaliza-
tions, you know, it’s a time that
we need to consider” ending sup-
plemental unemployment bene-
fits, said Wallowa County Com-
missioner Todd Nash.
Umatilla County Commis-
sioner George Murdock said
there’s “no question” that federal
unemployment relief was “a great
deal” during the pandemic’s ear-
lier stages.
“At that point, businesses were
closed, people were not going to
work, and people were laid off,”
he said. “That’s changed. They’re
now open, they have jobs and
people who are worried about
COVID have had multiple oppor-
tunities to get vaccinated. Our
businesses are struggling because
so many people don’t want to go
back to work.”
Employers blame generous
federal benefits for their
difficulties in filling positions
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
and BRYCE DOLE
EO MEDIA GROuP
Eastern Oregon lawmakers are
calling for the state to end sup-
plemental unemployment bene-
fits to help out-of-
work Oregonians
endure the pan-
demic, saying the
programs
have
spurred a work-
force
shortage
Nash
that is hurting
regional business
economies.
Commission-
ers from 14 East-
ern Oregon coun-
ties, as well as
three state repre-
Beverage
sentatives and one
senator,
signed
a letter and sent
it Monday, June
7, to Gov. Kate
Brown’s office,
asserting “unem-
ployment recip-
Hansell
ients, especially
those receiving
additional federal unemployment
benefits, are choosing to stay
home rather than look for work.”
The letter stated the benefits
are “creating a labor shortage
that is impacting our most vul-
nerable communities and will
not be sustainable long term.”
“There’s a disincentive to
work,” said Sen. Bill Hansell,
R-Athena, who signed the letter.
“You get paid as much, or nearly
as much, to not work as you do
to work with the federal dollars
coming in.”
The letter comes as more
than two dozen GOP-led states
have ended similar benefits due
to slow job growth nationwide,
a trend some lawmakers have
been quick to blame on federal
unemployment benefits, though
experts also have said child
care and the fear of contracting
COVID-19 are playing roles.
“It’s really hurting the econ-
‘It’s not just poor people’
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald, File
A billboard along Interstate 84 near Boardman advertises jobs at the Port of Morrow on Wednesday, May 26, 2021.
Some Eastern Oregon lawmakers are asking the state to stop paying supplemental unemployment benefits in an
effort to encourage people to work.
omy right now,” said Donna
Beverage, a Union County com-
missioner who signed the
letter. “There are some
people that need to be on
unemployment, certainly
if they have to do child-
care and that sort of thing.
But, it’s really discourag-
ing a lot of people from
going back to work when
they make more money by
being on unemployment.”
From March 2020
to March 2021, Orego-
nians received $5.5 bil-
lion in federal stimulus
money, according to The
Oregonian/OregonLive.
In
May,
payrolls
increased nationally by
559,000 workers as the
unemployment rate fell
below 6% for the first time
since the pandemic began.
And about 554,000 jobs were
added on-average from March
through May. At that rate, the
labor market will not return to
pre-pandemic levels until 2022,
according to The New York
Times.
“THERE’S A
DISINCENTIVE TO
WORK. YOU GET PAID
AS MUCH, OR
NEARLY AS MUCH,
TO NOT WORK AS
YOU DO TO WORK
WITH THE FEDERAL
DOLLARS COMING
IN.”
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena
Workforce shortages felt across
Eastern Oregon
For weeks, Eastern Oregon
officials have voiced concerns
over the workforce shortage. In
a letter to Brown “on behalf of
Morrow County employers” in
late May, Kalie Davis, direc-
tor of workforce develop-
ment for the Port of Mor-
row, listed 25 employers in
the county that had more than
200 job openings total.
The letter from the law-
makers concluded with the
exact same language used in
Davis’ letter: “The benefit
of being unemployed should
not outweigh the benefit of
working.”
The letter comes as
COVID-19 cases decline
while vaccinations rise state-
wide, signaling the pandemic
is largely waning. That’s why
some officials decided to
call for an end to the federal
benefits now, even as sev-
eral Eastern Oregon coun-
ties with disproportionately
high infection rates have reported
some of the lowest vaccination
rates in Oregon.
“In a time when vaccination
numbers are up, COVID cases
Mark Gomolski, the execu-
tive director of Agape House, a
nonprofit food bank in Hermis-
ton, said it was sad that several of
the people the organization serves
have no incentive to go back to
work because they are making
more money sitting at home.
“I know if I was a parent, how
does that look that we’re just wait-
ing for a paycheck and not going
to work and staying home and
watching TV?” he said. “Some
people are being productive and
doing things around their homes
or volunteering. But they should
get back to work. Our economy’s
hurting.”
In May, David Gersten-
feld, acting director of the Ore-
gon Employment Department,
announced Oregonians soon will
have to actively search for a job
to receive unemployment, as
required under federal law before
Congress waived the require-
ment early in the pandemic when
businesses closed to prevent the
spread of coronavirus. Those
requirements will resume over
the next two months, Gerstenfeld
said.
The state, however, did not
specify when workers will need
to demonstrate they’re looking for
work and did not set a timeline for
when it will reinstate the job search
requirement.