For many, new jobs will be a step down
Californians need income and fast. Thousands of people who weathered the initial storm of pandemic shutdowns have started the hunt for new work. Faced with the most unforgiving job market in recent history, many are turning to the few industries hiring. Often, they’re the ones on the front lines.
A record number of Californians — more than 8 million — have filed first-time unemployment claims since March. The lucky ones managed a lateral career switch without too much financial damage, but as personal savings and emergency unemployment benefits run dry, an increasing number of middle-income and whitecollar workers can’t afford to wait for their old jobs to return.
“There’s so many overqualified people who’ve lost their jobs applying,” said
Debra Feleke, the hiring manager for a Safeway district that includes the Bay Area. “Professors, I’ve had people with doctorates and masters. It’s really quite astounding.”
As more counties move from the state’s “widespread” purple coronavirus tier to the less restrictive red tier, economists expect businesses to reopen and employment to rise. But thousands of jobs simply won’t come back.
Hardest-hit by early pandemic closures were lowwage workers in the service and retail industries, but as those sectors start rehiring, others are expected to face long-lasting cuts, including DJs, waiters, airport staff, event planners and tour guides. In the last 12 months, the state’s arts and entertainment industry lost more than 1.5 million net jobs, according to a report from the Center for Jobs and the Economy.
“These jobs are gone for a long time. Maybe you’re forced to do deliveries, work with Amazon. But then you’re overqualified, or you have a mismatch between your skills, your experience and what you’re getting at your new job.” said Sylvia Allegretto, a labor economist and co-chair of the Center on Wage and Unemployment Dynamics at UC Berkeley.
The state’s unemployment rate in August was 11.4%, far higher than the nation’s. Data shows new applicants for unemployment assistance in August tended to be older and more educated — and a larger share identified as White, according to a report by the California Policy Lab at UCLA and the California Employment Development Department. While 39% of the state’s labor force has filed for unemployment at some point since March, among Black workers the rate was 68.4%. For Latinx workers, it was 30.8%.
Drawn-out economic crises like the Great Recession, Allegretto says, typically hit white-collar workers and the middle class first but end up falling on the shoulders of poorer, less educated workers over time.