The Oregon Employment Department announced late last week it will use its equilibrium schedule for payroll taxes in 2021, but interim agency director David Gerstenfeld says they are able to keep increases minimal in spite of the unemployment insurance system facing an unprecedented demand for benefits.  Gerstenfeld says that’s in part due to federal funding for much of the benefits being paid out, but it’s also because of the health of the Oregon Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, which Gerstenfeld says kept the state afloat in the Great Recession and will likely remain solvent through the current pandemic.  Gerstenfeld says borrowing money leads to higher costs for employers, and he’s confident that will not be the case in Oregon.