Jobless claims plunge in California

EDD reveals fresh blunder that blocks payments to 200,000 workers

Unemployment claims in California plunged to their lowest level in three months, an improvement that arrived at the same time as a new blunder by the state labor agency that blocked payments to nearly 200,000 workers.

California workers filed 69,900 initial claims for unemployment benefits during the week that ended on April 10, which represented a sharp drop of 75,600 from the 145,500 claims filed the prior week, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

In the weekly claims report, the number of claims filed last week is the lowest number in nearly three months. During the week that

ended on Jan. 23, 53,300 California workers filed unemployment claims.

Nationwide, workers filed 576,000 initial claims for unemployment during the week ending April 10, a decrease of 193,000 from the prior week, when workers filed 769,000 jobless claims, the Labor Department reported.

Separately, however, the state Employment Development Department disclosed in a tweet that 178,000 workers were being prevented from reapplying for jobless benefits due to “an issue” the EDD was suffering.

The latest problems involving an EDD blunder arise from a glitch on the EDD website that is affecting payments to unemployed workers. “The EDD has notified about 178,000 customers of an issue temporarily preventing them from reapplying for benefits after reaching the end of their initial benefit year,” the EDD said in its tweet.

The state agency said it was working to remedy the problem.

“We apologize for the inconvenience and will have this fixed by Friday,” the EDD tweeted.