Unemployment numbers stagger: 1 in 7 out of work

2.8M Californians have lost jobs, 661,000 last week

More than 600,000 Californians filed new unemployment claims last week as the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic mounted in the state, where 1 out of every 7 workers has lost a job in the past month.

Nationwide, 5.25 million people filed initial unemployment claims, which pushed the number of people who have lost their jobs in the United States over the last four weeks to around 21 million. Shelter-in-place orders in California and across the nation have closed businesses, shops and restaurants, keeping workers at home and with few options to replace all of their lost income.

About 2.82 million California residents have filed for unemployment over the last month, based on the preliminary estimates from federal officials, including 661,000 last week.

For some of the newly unemployed in the Bay Area, frustration is mounting as they can’t get through the torrent of phone calls to the beleaguered

state Employment Development Department or are being told they don’t qualify for state unemployment benefits despite making only a modest annual wage.

San Jose resident Monica Morris- Aranda was furloughed from her job in March at a high- end Palo Alto steakhouse after never having been unemployed before. She has yet to get any payments.

“I pay taxes every year,” Morris-Aranda said. “The moment I need unemployment, I can’t get it. The system has failed us.”

Morris-Aranda said she was told she does not qualify for benefits.

“This is not what I would have hoped for,” MorrisAranda said. “I have received nothing from the EDD. I was hoping for a payment in 10 days, then 20 days, and now it’s 30 days and the EDD says that I don’t qualify. And they provide no explanation.”

On Wednesday, state Labor Secretary Julie Su conceded that some may think the EDD has faltered in its mission.

“I acknowledge there is frustration in California over unemployment insurance benefits,” Su said during an appearance at the governor’s coronavirus news briefing.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Su said they have taken steps to increase the EDD call center hours to 12 hours a day, seven days a week, up dramatically from the current four hours a day, five days a week. The new EDD call center goes live Monday so people can phone from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

But there is one area of relief already: California has begun to distribute unemployment payments to jobless workers that include an additional $600 financed by the federal government. The average state benefit is $340 a week, which would grow to $940 a week with the supplemental payment.

However, other newly unemployed workers also said they have yet to receive any benefits from the state.

Veronica Martinez, a Richmond resident who was laid off from the call center at Marin General Hospital, makes about $57,000 a year yet was told by the EDD online system that she didn’t qualify for unemployment benefits.

“How am I going to pay my mortgage and make my car payment?” Martinez said. “I don’t understand how the EDD says I make too much money. I’m not getting any unemployment benefits.”

Ash Tawadros, who works at Cole European, a Walnut Creek auto dealership, recognizes the unemployment benefits can only be a short-term remedy.

“I generally earn a lot more, and this is just a short term Band- Aid,” Tawadros said. “I’m in the high- end automotive industry. I believe the highend will take longer to recover. People will be looking at needs versus wants and repair their cars versus buy new.”

“I look forward to getting back to work once this whole mess is over with,” Tawadros added.

Separately, the Small Business Administration said $376 billion in relief for small businesses was set to expire because funding for the loans has been exhausted. Congress must authorize more cash for the program.

In California, grocery, farm, fast-food and delivery workers, and others in the food sector in California, will receive two extra weeks of supplemental paid sick leave if they were subject to a coronavirus-linked isolation order, quarantine or medical directive, under an executive order signed Thursday by Newsom.

“A lot of folks could easily dial it in, file for unemployment insurance, wait for this thing to pass,” Newsom said. “But there’s dignity with work … and with dignity comes respect and admiration.”

As the days wear on without work or state unemployment payments, some workers wonder what’s next for them as they attempt to navigate an increasingly forbidding economic landscape in California.

“It’s pretty tough,” Morris-Aranda said. “I’m getting by because I have a pretty optimistic attitude. I’m in a group chat, so we are using everyone’s resources to find answers about people getting benefits. But the government isn’t coming through.”