California jobless claims fall to 7-month low;…
California jobless claims fall to 7-month low; U.S. tapers, too
Unemployment claims in California are the fewest since March 21
State Employment Development Department main offices at the State Capitol complex in Sacramento.
By George Avalos | gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com and The Associated Press |
PUBLISHED: October 22, 2020 at 1:29 p.m. | UPDATED: October 22, 2020 at 2:21 p.m.
Unemployment claims in California fell to their lowest levels since coronavirus-linked business shutdowns began in March, federal officials said Thursday.
California workers filed 158,900 first-time unemployment claims for the week that ended Oct. 17, which was down about 17,200 from the 176,100 initial claims that workers filed during the week ending on Oct. 10, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.
The number of unemployment claims was the lowest since the week of March 21, when California workers filed 186,300 jobless claims.
That March 21 timeframe is crucial because that's when state and local government agencies began to order wide-ranging business shutdowns in an attempt to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
The current number of jobless claims represents a dramatic improvement from the week that ended on March 28, when California workers filed 1.06 million first-time claims for jobless benefits, an all-time record high for a single week.
All of these numbers are far above the 57,600 in unemployment claims that were filed in California during the week that ended on March 14.
During January and February, the two months before the business shutdowns began, unemployment claims averaged 44,800 a week.
The most recent week's unemployment claims remain more than three times greater than the pre-shutdown levels.
Nationwide, the number of laid-off Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 787,000, a sign that job losses may have eased slightly but are still running at historically high levels.
Last week's figure was down from 842,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The government also revised down the number of people who sought aid in the two weeks before that. The revised total for the week that ended Oct. 3 was 767,000, the fewest since the viral pandemic erupted in March, though still more than three times the levels that preceded the pandemic.
Economists welcomed the declines as evidence that the job market is still recovering from the pandemic recession. But some cautioned that the improvement could prove short-lived. With confirmed infections having neared 60,000 in the past week, the most since July, consumers have been unable or reluctant to shop, travel, dine out or congregate in crowds — a trend that has led some employers to keep cutting jobs. Several states are reporting a record number of hospitalizations from the virus.
"We doubt it will continue as COVID infections spread rapidly, pushing down demand for discretionary consumer services, especially in the hospitality sector," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, referring to the portion of the economy that includes hard-hit hotels, restaurants and bars.
The downward revisions in applications for unemployment aid reflect a sharp decline in California, which in recent months has accounted for one-fourth of the nation's total jobless claims. California stopped processing new applications for two weeks while it implemented anti-fraud technology and sought to process a huge backlog. The state's workforce agency is now reporting a 30% drop in the number of new applications compared with its earlier levels.
A drop that sharp suggests that the state's previous figures had overstated layoffs and jobless claims in California. Many economists have grown skeptical of the accuracy of the government's weekly figures.
That's because of fraud and the concern that some states may be double-counting applicants in their regular unemployment programs and in a new program that made contractors and gig workers eligible for jobless aid for the first time. In many states, contractors and gig workers must apply for aid under both the regular program and the new program to determine their eligibility.
Applications fell broadly last week across the country, not just in California, declining in 39 states while rising in 11. They dropped nearly 12,000 in Florida, 10,000 in New York and 5,800 in Washington state.
George Avalos | Business Reporter
George Avalos is a business reporter for the Bay Area News Group. He covers the economy, jobs, PG&E, Chevron, financial companies and commercial real estate.
gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com
Follow George Avalos	@georgeavalos