Oregon maximum weekly unemployment benefit.

Oregon in the July 2026 DOL table

The DOL publishes this comparison each January and July and says it is informational rather than an official interpretation; the Oregon Employment Department is the agency that decides claims. The department’s claimant handbook confirms the formula: “The weekly benefit amount is 1.25% of your total base period wages. Oregon law sets the minimum and maximum amounts you can receive,” and it describes the Wage and Potential Benefit Report, “a formal decision also called a ‘monetary determination’,” as the document that explains the amount you could receive and how it was calculated. The department’s web page listing the current minimum and maximum could not be read on the build day, so the $211 and $902 are from the DOL table.

How the weekly amount is worked out

Oregon is one of the states that uses the whole base period rather than a single high quarter. Multiply total base period wages by 1.25 percent: $41,600 gives $520, which is the handbook’s own example ($20 an hour, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks). The $902 ceiling is reached at base period wages of $72,160 and anything above still pays $902; the $211 floor applies below $16,880 of base period wages, provided you qualify at all. Because the formula is a flat percentage, two people with the same annual earnings get the same weekly amount regardless of how the wages were spread across quarters, which is not true in high-quarter states such as Texas or Florida.

How long it lasts

The maximum benefit amount is the lesser of one-third of base period wages or 26 times the weekly amount. With an uncapped weekly amount of 1.25 percent, 26 weeks is 32.5 percent of base period wages, just under one-third, so most claimants whose weekly amount is between the floor and the ceiling get the full 26 weeks; the one-third rule bites only when the weekly amount has been raised to the $211 minimum, which is how the table’s range of 1 to 26 weeks arises. The handbook adds that the benefit year is a 52-week period from the first week you file and that “you may receive up to 26 times of your weekly benefit amount during this time,” and that Oregon requires one unpaid waiting week per claim.

Worked example

Base period wages $41,600, high quarter $12,000, no hours entered: WBA = 1.25% x $41,600 = $520. Qualifying test: $41,600 is over $1,000 and at least 1.5 x $12,000 = $18,000, so the wage test is met. Maximum benefit amount: one-third of $41,600 = $13,866.67 versus 26 x $520 = $13,520; the lesser is $13,520, the full 26 weeks. Second case, base period wages $80,000 and high quarter $20,000: 1.25% is $1,000, held to $902; one-third of $80,000 = $26,666.67 versus 26 x $902 = $23,452, so $23,452 and 26 weeks. Third case, base period wages $10,000: 1.25% is $125, raised to the $211 minimum; one-third of $10,000 = $3,333.33 versus 26 x $211 = $5,486, so $3,333.33, about 15.8 weeks. While claiming, Oregon disregards the greater of one-third of the weekly amount or $168 in part-time earnings: $173.33 a week at $520, $300.67 at the $902 maximum.

Method

WBA = 1.25% of base period wages, rounded to the nearest dollar (DERIVED rounding; the Employment Department applies its own), then held between the $211 minimum and $902 maximum. The maximum benefit amount is the lesser of one-third of base period wages or 26 x WBA; the weeks shown are that amount divided by the WBA; the qualifying test is base period wages over $1,000 and at least 1.5 x high-quarter wages, or 500 base period hours. Figures read on November 11, 2026 from the DOL Significant Provisions table effective July 2026 and the Oregon Employment Department claimant handbook. The tool does not check separation reasons, work search or other eligibility rules.

What this does not cover

• Whether you qualify on non-monetary grounds: the reason you left work, availability and work search.
• The exact rounding the Employment Department applies to the weekly amount.
• Extended benefits, Work Share, Training Unemployment Insurance and federal programs.
• The alternate base year, which the department may use when the standard one does not qualify you.

Figures read from the sources below on November 11, 2026. Last updated November 11, 2026.

Sources

• U.S. Department of Labor, ETA Office of Unemployment Insurance: Significant Provisions of State Unemployment Insurance Laws, effective July 2026 (PDF), Oregon row (retrieved November 11, 2026)
• Oregon Employment Department: Unemployment Insurance Claimant Handbook, UIPUB350 (PDF), amount of benefits and glossary (retrieved November 11, 2026)