Unemployment Data Update – March 2020 through April 10, 2021

Continuing the high volatility of the past several weeks, total initial claims were down sharply in California during the week of April 10, while continuing the downward trend in the rest of the states that began in early March. In California, initial claims processed in the regular program dropped 52.0% compared to the prior week, while Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims eased 10.9%. In the national totals, regular claims were down 20.0%, while PUA claims dropped 13.4%. Combined, total claims processed plunged 46.0% in California and 18.9% in the US numbers. While remaining at an overall higher comparative level, the current results return California to a general downward trend similar to what is being experienced in the other states.

County Tier Status & the Unemployed

In the most recent results for February, California tied with Connecticut for the third-highest unemployment rate in the country, behind only Hawaii which is even more dependent on tourism-related employment, and New York, which adopted lock-down strategies comparable to California’s. The results for March will be released on Friday.

These numbers only cover the officially unemployed and not workers who have left the labor force during the pandemic period, including workers who have given up on trying to find a job, workers who are fearful of contracting the disease if they get a job, and parents who have had to quit their jobs to take care of their children while the California public schools have remained closed.

The most recent tier allocations for the week of April 10 from the Department of Public Health show continuing improvements in relieving restrictions to business activities and jobs. Counties in the second-lowest Tier 3 restrictions held 84.7% of February’s unemployment, but 15.3% remain within the second highest Tier 2. All counties remain under some level of restrictions which present barriers to the state’s economic recovery and the continued reliance of many workers on unemployment benefits, although the governor recently announced his intention to remove the tiered system by June 15 but with some as yet unspecified virus-related provisions.