Coronavirus: California unemployment claims rise in most recent week

Jun. 4--First-time claims for unemployment rose slightly in California during the most recent week, but longer-term patterns show that job losses are dwindling statewide amid coronavirus-linked business shutdowns, federal officials reported on Thursday.

Initial unemployment claims totaled nearly 230,500 in California the week ended May 30, up 27,200 from the 203,200 claims filed the previous week by workers who had lost their jobs, according to a U.S. Labor Department news release.

However, a longer-term measurement of unemployment claims showed that job losses have abated in California. Over the most recent four weeks ending May 30, unemployment claims averaged 222,700 a week, down from the weekly average of 244,200 for the four weeks ended on May 23, this news organization's analysis of the Labor Department figures shows. But the cumulative toll has been huge: Since mid-March, when businesses shut down under state and local orders in an effort to combat the coronavirus, 4.94 million California workers have filed initial claims for unemployment.

Nationwide, 1.88 million workers filed unemployment claims during the most recent week, down about 249,000 from the 2.13 million who filed initial jobless claims the week ending May 23. More than 40 million American workers have joined the jobless rolls during the 11 weeks that coronavirus-linked business shutdowns have been in effect.

Thursday's report arrived one day before a widely anticipated national employment report that is expected to reflect a loss of millions of jobs in the United States during May. California, however, is not scheduled to release its May employment until June 19.

The latest figures arrive amid ongoing problems at the state EDD to respond to the avalanche of unemployment claims, despite adding state workers from other agencies to help. The EDD now has 3,000 workers in its unemployment insurance unit, including 1,200 who were already on staff prior to the spike in jobless claims and is seeking to bring 1,800 more on board.

"I was laid off on March 13 and applied for unemployment on March 23," said Ben Wilson, a resident of the Sonoma County town of Windsor and a chef at a Healdsburg restaurant.

It took until Thursday for the EDD to send him the bank debit card that is required to receive payments. He now has received his benefits, including back pay. Yet the experience has left him with a sour taste regarding the EDD.

"I know it's an overload of the system," Wilson said. "But you pay your taxes like everyone else, and you would think the government would take care of you during a pandemic."

The phone calls and online applications from resulting from the huge numbers of jobless California workers have shattered the EDD's phone banks and appear to have hobbled the agency's computer system.

"I literally have been unable to speak to anyone in almost three months," said James Parks, a Redding resident who lost his job as a bartender on March 16. "There are a lot of us out here who have been laid off and are just trying to survive. One of the people who works with me became homeless."

Parks believes he, too, might have become homeless without the income provided by his partner, Gail Bailleaux, with whom Parks lives in Redding.

"I am a member of two unofficial EDD help groups on Facebook and the problems are not fixed in the least," Bailleaux said in an email to this news organization. "It's still really, really bad for most of us."

Some jobless workers say when they have managed to reach the EDD on the phone, the agency workers have been rude or cut them off.

"This week I was hung up on twice by representatives of the EDD when I was connected by the EDD automated call system," said John Rutkowski, a resident of the Riverside County city of Lake Elsinore. "I was trying to voice my frustration and was asking to be transferred to a supervisor."

John Dooley, a San Ramon resident and an accountant for a staffing services agency, lost his job on March 26. Dooley stated that the EDD website shows he has been awarded benefits. Yet he has not received any money from the state agency.

"I have not seen a penny to live on for more than two months," Dooley said. "There is no one talking to me. I will soon join the ranks of the homeless. Was this a better outcome than allowing me to risk catching the flu?"

With a potential backlog of 1.75 million unpaid claims as of the end of April, frustrations are mounting for people like Dooley and Catherine Nelson, a Dixon resident, who lost her job as a dog trainer.

"I can't talk to anyone. It's maddening," Nelson said. "This is California. Someone needs to be fired for this."

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