California jobless claims up slightly

They remain below 100,000, but are still far above normal level

Unemployment claims in California rose slightly last week and have remained below 100,000 for two weeks in a row — yet jobless filings are still far above what they were before the beginning of business shutdowns to combat the coronavirus.

California workers filed approximately 72,000 initial claims for unemployment during the week ended April 17, up about 3,000 from the prior week, a new report by the U.S. Labor Department stated.

Even with the tiny improvement, the battered labor market in California has yet to convalesce from the economic ailments the coronavirus has unleashed.

“New unemployment claims numbers have improved,” said Michael Bernick, an employment attorney with law firm Duane Morris and a former director of the state Employment Development Department. “But small business openings and revenues remain way down from pre-pandemic levels and even continue to decline.”

The latest unemployment filings in California marked only the sixth time during the last 57 weeks that jobless claims were below 100,000. Government-ordered business shutdowns and restrictions began in mid-March 2020.

Nationwide, unemployment claims totaled 547,000 for the week ending on April 17, a decline of 39,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported.

Stephen Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, believes a growing number of optimistic signs have begun to sprout in California, pointing to a recovery for the job market.

“Bay Area job growth should accelerate now with more businesses reopening, including some

“The one glaring statistic for the aalifornia economy is the lack of improvement in small business revenues and small business openings.”

— Michael Bernick, employment attorney

in-person capacity at sports and tourist venues,” Levy said.

Despite the hopeful signs, the current level of jobless claims is still far above the typical weekly amount prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. During January and February of 2020, before the pandemic shutdowns, unemployment claims averaged 44,800 a week.

During the four most recent weeks, jobless claims in California averaged 98,500 a week. That’s more than double the weekly preCOVID average of early 2020, this news organization’s analysis of the California filings shows.

“The one glaring statistic for the California economy is the lack of improvement in small business revenues and small business openings,” Bernick said.

Bernick noted the Track the Recovery website, at tracktherecovery.org, determined that, as of April 10, small business revenues in California were down 24% since the start of the coronavirus outbreak while small business openings were down 38.4%.

“In fact, small business openings have actually decreased since midFebruary, even though the state has lifted restrictions and vaccinations have increased,” Bernick said.