Thousands face delays in unemployment payments

Hundreds of thousands of California workers face a fresh round of delays of more than a month for their unemployment payments while a state labor agency attempts to launch a new federal program, officials said Wednesday.

Potentially 800,000 California workers face delays through the end of April in receiving payments of unemployment benefits issued by the beleaguered state Employment Development Department. Since March 2020, the EDD has been buried in an avalanche of unemployment claims that it has struggled to pay on a timely basis.

Now a newly approved federal program that is issuing extra payments of $300 a week on top of a worker’s regular state unemployment benefits is contributing to the delay.

The delays — which could last until April 30 for many workers — affect people with two categories of unemployment claims that they have filed with the EDD.

Slightly more than half of the 1.4 million people who have Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation claims will see their payments start to be phased in between April 10 and 30, according to a release Wednesday from the EDD. An estimated 47% of the claimants will continue to collect benefits without interruption, “if eligible,” the EDD said.

The EDD estimate means 742,000 workers face the prospect of interruptions in their benefit payments.

An estimated 5% of another 1.2 million people who are collecting Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits also face delays. That would suggest that 60,000 workers receiving those benefits might have to endure unwelcome interruptions.

— George Avalos, staff writer

Jobless claims fall

Unemployment claims in California fell below 100,000 for the first time since late February, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

California workers filed about 95,900 first-time claims for unemployment during the week that ended March 20, a decline of 13,400 from claims filed the week before.

Initial unemployment claims had been above 100,000 during all but four of the 53 weeks since state and local government agencies launched wide-ranging business shutdowns last spring to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

During the first two months of 2020, unemployment claims averaged 44,800 a week in California.

Since the business lockdowns began in mid-march 2020, California’s initial unemployment claims have averaged 234,000 a week, an analysis of jobs data shows.

Rising gas prices ease

For California drivers seeking some good news at the pump, gasoline prices had their smallest gain in five weeks.

Still, the average price for a gallon of regular gas rose 3 cents to $3.76 in the past week — the highest in 68 weeks, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration as of March 22. Prices are up $1.12 since the pandemic low of $2.64 last May — a 42% increase. The last time it was higher? Nov. 18, 2019.

Pump prices statewide have risen for 14 consecutive weeks as the fuel’s key ingredient, crude oil, soared in price. West Texas Intermediate, a U.S. benchmark for crude oil, is up 18% this year to $62 a barrel last week. Perhaps drivers will get some relief soon as crude oil prices dipped to $58 early last week.

Gasoline’s 2021 surge contrasts sharply to prices that tumbled 21% in two months last spring as pandemic stay-at-home restrictions cut travel and fuel demand. Since then, a reopening economy, plus production cuts worldwide, boosted gasoline prices.

Nationally, a gallon of regular gas cost an average $2.87 last week — up 1 cent in a week and up 85 cents or 60% since last spring’s $1.77 low. That gap between state and U.S. prices is 31% versus an average 32% in the last five years.