Oregon’s jobless rate fell a full percentage point in October, to 6.9%, but the number of long-term unemployed has tripled since the coronavirus recession began last spring. That’s according to data out Tuesday from the Oregon Employment Department.

Oregon added 14,200 jobs last month and has now regained almost half of the jobs it lost during the first two months of the pandemic. The state’s outlook is highly uncertain, though, with Gov. Kate Brown ordering a coronavirus “freeze” beginning Wednesday amid an enormous spike in infections.

While the freeze allows nearly all businesses to continue operating as they have been, it requires bars and restaurants to stop dine-in service and shutters all gyms. The freeze will last at least two weeks in most of the state, and at least four weeks in Multnomah County where the recent outbreaks have been especially severe.

Oregon bars and restaurants added 1,700 jobs last month but the sector remains down 20% from a year ago, with fresh closures about to begin.

The employment department failed to promptly pay jobless claims at the beginning of the pandemic, overwhelmed by the flood of claims and hobbled by an obsolete computer system that was unable to adapt to changes in benefits programs. The department says it’s much better positioned to process any new claims that accompany the pending freeze order, but tens of thousands of Oregonians are still waiting for their initial claims to be processed.

Oregon’s October unemployment numbers match the national rate. Just 3,900 Oregonians filed new jobless claims in the first week of November, the lowest total since February in the weeks before the pandemic hit. The pace of job losses has slowed enormously over the past several weeks, but the resurgent coronavirus could renew Oregon’s economic struggles.

Meanwhile, a large subset of workers doesn’t appear to be benefiting from the state’s economic recovery. The employment department said Tuesday that 54,600 Oregonians have been out of work for at least six months.

Many of those workers have received extended unemployment benefits, which last as long as 39 weeks under federal coronavirus legislation. With Oregon’s coronavirus downturn now in its 35th week, though, those benefits will soon expire.

Separate federal bonuses, which paid workers an extra $600 a week initially and an additional $300 a week later, have also expired. And the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program Congress established for self-employed workers in March runs out at the end of the year.

Coronavirus infections are up sharply across the nation, but no additional federal relief measures appear imminent as Congress is deadlocked over the size of any future aid package.