Two More Mass Layoffs Show the Depths of COVID-19’s Impact on Oregon’s Economy

Job losses on the Nike campus and at the region’s biggest airline continue Oregonians’ pain.

By Nigel Jaquiss
Cancelled flights at Portland International Airport. (Rocky Burnside)

Two mass layoff notices posted by the state show that COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc with Oregon's economy nearly five months after Gov. Kate Brown's March 23 stay-at-home order.

The latest to go, according to an Aug. 7 filing: 355 workers employed by the food services giant Aramark at Nike's headquarters in Beaverton. The cooks, baristas and other workers who staff the company's cafeterias will follow hundreds of Nike workers out the door by Sept. 25.

Related: Nike Will Lay Off 500 Workers at Its Beaverton World Headquarters

Also on Aug. 7, the state disclosed a filing by Alaska Airlines that the company would lay off 277 employees, most of them flight attendants and customer service workers based at Portland International Airport, as of Oct. 1.

The layoffs at Alaska, which, with Southwest Airlines, is one of the two largest carriers at PDX, come less than a month after the airport opened its first new gates in more than 20 years as part of a $2 billion expansion. 

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Alaska AirlinesAramarkCOVID-19 coronaviruslayoffsNike

Nigel Jaquiss

Nigel Jaquiss

Reporter Nigel Jaquiss joined the Oregon Journalism project in 2025 after 27 years at Willamette Week.

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