SALEM — One out of 8 jobs in Oregon was idled or lost in the month of April, a dubious record caused by statewide lockdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Oregon lost 253,400 jobs in April and 13,200 in March, the Oregon Employment Department reported Tuesday. The unemployment rate stands at 14.2%.

“While these numbers make for shocking historical records, they cannot totally capture the economic trauma so many Oregonians are experiencing at this time,” said Anna Johnson, a senior economic analyst with the department.

The record-high unemployment follows a rate of 3.5% before the pandemic. The new data marks the largest month-to-month unemployment rate increase since the recording of comparable data in 1976.

The total number of unemployed in Oregon reached 300,420 in April. Nationwide, unemployment has increased from 4.4% in March to 14.7% in April.

The numbers eclipse even those from the Great Recession, when Oregon lost 150,000 jobs over two years.

The leisure and hospitality sector bore the biggest brunt of the pandemic closures with 108,400 jobs lost in April. That figure makes up 54.6% of all jobs lost, said Johnson. No sector in Oregon gained jobs in April. Other hard-hit industries include health care and social assistance (26,800 jobs lost), retail trade (22,500 jobs lost), and the professional and business services sector (19,200 jobs lost).

Government workers were not immune to the lockdowns, with 13,100 job losses. There were also 12,000 jobs lost in construction and 11,600 jobs lost in manufacturing.

Even though many parts of the state are beginning to reopen it’s not clear yet if May numbers will be much better, said Johnson.

“Large job losses are continuing to occur,” said Johnson. “Even though some jobs are being added back as areas open up we really don’t know if there will be a bounce-back in May.”