Backlog of California EDD claims below 1M

First-time jobless claims rise to 152,400 in most recent week

For the first time since business shutdowns were ordered in March, the logjam of California workers awaiting payment of their unemployment claims has fallen below 1 million, according to the state Employment Development Department.

For months, the backlog of unpaid or unresolved unemployment claims in California has been well above 1 million, reaching as high as 1.44 million in March, 1.8 million at the end of May, and 1.56 million at the end of September, according to an EDD estimate.

However, during the week that ended on Oct. 28, the number of backlogged claims totaled 946,100, the EDD reported through a special dashboard set up to track the agency’s progress in paying workers who filed claims.

In a separate release Thursday, 152,400 California workers filed initial claims for unemployment last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported. That was an increase of about 250 claims from the prior week.

“California’s new claims numbers remain very high, as they have been for the past two months,” said Michael Bernick, an employment attorney with Duane Morris and a former director of the EDD.

Nationwide, workers filed 751,000 initial unemployment claims during the week that ended on Oct. 31, a decline of 7,000 from the prior week, the Labor Department reported.

The number of jobless claims filed in California last week accounted for 20.3% of all the firsttime unemployment claims filed nationwide — even though the state’s labor force is only 11.7% of the United States labor force.

This means California continues to suffer from an out- sized level of jobless claims. Although California has one out of every nine workers in the country, it is producing one out of every five jobless claims.

California lags the nation when it comes to recovering the historic number of jobs the state lost after the economy was partly shuttered to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Through the end of September, the United States had recovered 51.5% of the jobs it had lost in March and April, while California had recovered 38% and the Bay Area had recaptured 33.3% of its lost jobs, this news organization’s analysis of government statistics has determined.

Bernick believes that the labor market will remain dismal in California through the end of 2020.

“The next two months in California are unlikely to see significant upticks in new hiring or business re- openings,” Bernick said.

Despite the improvement in the backlog, a mammoth number of workers are stuck in the EDD limbo of unpaid or unresolved jobless claims.

The backlog of 946,100 consists of two categories:

— 645,600 claims by workers who received at least one payment but have been waiting more than 21 days to receive an additional payment or notification from the EDD that they don’t qualify for further payments. These are known as continuing claims,

— 300,500 claims by workers who had filed a first-time unemployment claim but have been waiting more than 21 days to receive their first payment or be told they don’t qualify for any benefits. These are officially known as initial claims.

During the week that ended Oct. 21, the backlog totaled 1.11 million. That means the latest overall backlog numbers are 14% below the prior week’s numbers.

The EDD is reducing the backlog of continuing claims at a faster pace than the backlog of initial claims.

For the week that ended on Oct. 28, continuing claims fell by 17% compared to the totals for week before, while initial claims fell by 9%, the EDD dashboard shows.