|
The most recent unemployment insurance claims data indicates the pace of new claims has remained largely level in California since the end of April, while showing a long trend decline since the end of March for the US as a whole. In last week’s data for the week of July 10, total initial claims grew 4.8% in California while dropping 2.2% in the other states.
More importantly, the number of Californians continuing to rely on unemployment benefits—and consequently other assistance programs as well—far surpasses the other states. Using the continuing claims data from the weekly Department of Labor releases, California in the week of June 26 contained 22.0% of all persons receiving benefits under the four core programs (regular unemployment insurance (insured unemployment), pandemic unemployment assistance, pandemic emergency unemployment compensation, and extended benefits).
In fact, comparing the numbers between the end of May and end of June—the period when the tier restrictions were at their lowest and then removed on June 15—continuing claims rose in California by 117,500, while dropping 1,118,500 in the other states.
|
