State unemployment claims rise again
Unemployment claims in California jumped to 105,600 last week, up 9,600 from the prior week, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.
Since business shutdowns began in March 2020, California unemployment claims have been above 100,000 for 50 of the last 54 weeks.
“The state continues to see a high number of layoffs, even a year after the pandemic started,” said Michael Bernick, an employment attorney with law firm Duane Morris, and a former director of the state Employment Development Department.
During January and February of 2020, before the lockdowns were launched, initial unemployment claims averaged 44,800 a week.
During the 54 weeks of government-ordered business restrictions and closures, jobless claims have averaged 231,600 a week in California.
Nationwide, initial unemployment claims totaled 719,000 during the week ending March 27, up 61,000 from the previous week.
California’s unemployment claims last week accounted for 14.8% of all the claims filed in the U.S. — even though the state has only 11.8% of the nation’s labor force.
California’s share of the nationwide jobless claims, which are not seasonally adjusted, has been climbing steadily for the last three weeks.
The nation’s four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week gyrations, fell by 10,500 to 719,000 — the fewest since mid-March 2020, just before the pandemic began to cause widespread layoffs.
All told, 3.8 million people were collecting traditional state benefits during the week ending March 20. If you include federal programs that are meant to help the unemployed through the health crisis, 18.2 million people were receiving some type of jobless aid in the week that ended March 13. That’s down from 19.7 million in the previous week. — George Avalos, staff writer
Two more COVID-19 tests OK’d
U.S. health officials have authorized two more over-the-counter COVID-19 tests that can be used at home to get rapid results.
The move by the Food and Drug Administration is expected to vastly expand the availability of cheap home tests that many experts have advocated since the early days of the outbreak. The announcement late Wednesday comes as U.S. testing numbers continue to slide, even as the number of new coronavirus infections is rising again.
The FDA said Abbott’s BinaxNow and Quidel’s QuickVue tests can now be sold without a prescription. Both tests were first OK’d last year but came with conditions that limited their use, including prescription requirements and instructions that they only be used in people with symptoms.
The home tests allow users to collect a sample themselves with a nasal swab that is then inserted into a test strip. Results are usually available in 10 to 20 minutes. Most other COVID-19 tests require a swab sample taken by a health worker at a testing location.
The agency authorized an over-thecounter COVID-19 test from an Australian company in December but it is still not widely available.
Abbott said its test would be priced in the “single digits” per test and should be available in “coming weeks” at pharmacies, supermarkets and other chains. The company can produce about 50 million tests per month. Quidel did not disclose pricing for its test.
Both companies said they would sell their tests in two packs. Repeat testing is important to reduce chances of false results. Both tests can be used by adults to test children 2 years and older.