Web Version [link removed] | Update Preferences [link removed] [link removed] Unemployment Data Update: March 2020 through March 6, 2021 Unemployment Insurance Claims

Initial claims jumped again in California while easing in the rest of the US during the week of March 6. Combined with the higher California numbers and continued elevated claims in Ohio, the national numbers overall were largely stable.

In California, initial claims processed in the regular program were up 19.0% compared to the prior week, while PUA claims were up more sharply at 35.8%. In the national totals, regular claims were down 6.2%, while PUA claims rose 9.6%. Combined, total claims processed jumped 22.9% in California but were essentially level in the US total, edging down only 0.4%.

The latest week’s results indicate that the overall trend remains highly variable in California, with the trend from the rest of the states largely steady in a gradual downward trend.

County Tier Status & the Unemployed

The most recent tier allocations for the week of March 2 from Department of Public Health [[link removed]] show increased movement in the Tier designations, with six counties moving from Tier 1 to Tier 2, two moving from Tier 2 to Tier 3, and one (Alpine) moving from Tier 3 to Tier 4. These shifts provide for some increased opportunities to reverse the growth in unemployment claims by returning workers to jobs. Even with these shifts, however, 83% of the unemployed from the December numbers continue to be in counties under the most restrictive Tier 1 provisions, and another 17% are in counties with the second most restrictive Tier 2 provisions. Furthermore, no counties are in a “green” tier removing all restrictions to allow jobs recovery to return to more normal conditions, nor are there any provisions for such a tier in the current Blueprint that would remove state control over job growth.

The chart above is based on the 1.7 million workers officially classified as unemployed in December. Adding in those leaving the labor force raises the total closer to 2.3 million.

Vaccine Tracker

In the most recent data from Centers for Disease Control [[link removed]], California fell behind many other states in the share of vaccine doses being administered. Total vaccine supplies were up 2.5 million for the week (11.4% of the national gain), while the number of shots administered were up 1.4 million (8.3% of the national total). As of midday March 13, a total of 11.2 million shots have been administered in the state covering 7.6 million people, or 19% of the population.

Backlog

EDD has not yet released their update of the backlog data for the week of March 10.

UI Fund

In the most recent data from EDD [[link removed]], California paid out a total of $126 billion in benefits under all the UI programs in the period March 7 through February 27. This amount does not yet include the benefit extensions approved in the December federal COVID Relief bill, as EDD just recently announced [[link removed]] they are now able to process worker claims for this federal assistance. The most current estimate [[link removed]] is that up to $31 billion of this amount was paid out to fraudulent claims, consisting of $11 billion in known fraud and up to $20 billion in suspected fraud.

The most recent data from US Department of Labor [[link removed]] indicates California’s outstanding loans from the Federal Unemployment Account were $20.2 billion, or 39% of the total amount owed by 20 states.

visit the center for jobs » [[link removed]] The California Center for Jobs and the Economy provides an objective and definitive source of information pertaining to job creation and economic trends in California. [[link removed]] Contact 1301 I Street Sacramento, CA 95814 916.553.4093 If you no longer wish to receive these emails, select here to unsubscribe. [link removed]