Claims drop, optimism grows
Unemployment claims in California fell below 100,000 for the first time since late February, according to a U.S. Labor Department report Thursday.
Across the United States, jobless claims totaled 684,000, representing a decline of 97,000 from the prior week’s total of 781,000 filings, the report shows.
California workers filed about 95,900 first-time claims for unemployment during the week that ended March 20, a decline of 13,400 from the 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 to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Despite the decline, initial unemployment claims for the most recent reported week remain more than double the weekly totals during January and February 2020, the final two months before the launch of the business shutdowns. 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 filings statewide shows.
“So far neither the data nor the reports of local business associations show a change in employment levels or rehiring,” said Michael Bernick, an employment attorney with law firm Duane Morris and a former director of the state Employment Development Department.
California’s initial unemployment claims last week represented 14.6% of the U.S. totals when comparing claims that weren’t adjusted for seasonal variations. The state accounts for only 11.8% of the nationwide labor pool.
During the previous week, California accounted for 14.4% of the claims filed nationwide.
“Job postings in California actually plummeted by 20% for the most recent week ending March 19,” Bernick said. “Small business revenues and small business openings remained down by more than 30%, largely unchanged since last fall.”
U.S. jobless
The number of people seeking benefits under a federal program for self-employed and contract workers also dropped, to 241,000, from 284,000 a week earlier. All told, the number of applicants fell below 1 million for the first time since the pandemic.
Economists are growing more optimistic that the pace of layoffs, which has been chronically high for a full year, is finally easing.
“While the level of claims remains elevated,” said Nancy Vanden
Houten, an economist at Oxford Economics, “we expect they will continue to recede as the recovery gains momentum.”
Still, a total of 18.9 million people are continuing to collect jobless benefits, up from 18.2 million in the previous week. Roughly one-third of those recipients are in extended federal aid programs, which means they’ve been unemployed for at least six months.
Their prolonged joblessness could prove to be a long-term hindrance: Typically, many people who have been unemployed for extended periods struggle to find work even as the economy regains its health.
The economy has been showing signs of emerging from the pandemic crisis with renewed vigor, with spending picking up, manufacturing strengthening and employers adding workers. Hiring increased in February, with 379,000 added jobs — more than double January’s total. The economy expanded at a 4.3% annual rate in the final three months of last year, the government estimated Thursday, slightly faster than its previous estimate. That pace is widely expected to accelerate in the coming months, fueled by substantial government rescue aid.