California unemployment claims soar to highest since April

California claims for unemployment benefits jumped to their highest level successful six months arsenic the beleaguered occupation marketplace continues to conflict with the holidays conscionable weeks away.

Workers statewide filed 80,700 first-time unemployment claims during the week ending Oct. 16, up 17,600 from the 63,100 archetypal claims filed during the week ending Oct. 9, the U.S. Labor Department reported.

The claims filed with the state’s Employment Development Department past week were the astir that workers person posted since aboriginal April.

Meanwhile, claims for the U.S. wide fell 6,000 to 290,000 from the anterior week. These numbers reported by the Labor Department are adjusted for seasonal variations.

In California, the leap of 17,600 unemployment claims marked the largest one-week summation since the seven-day play that ended connected April 3.

Jobless claims statewide person been stuck astatine an abnormally precocious level compared to what had been the lawsuit for a steadfast California system anterior to the onset of the coronavirus.

During January 2020 and February 2020, the last 2 months earlier the commencement of government-orchestrated concern shutdowns to combat the dispersed of the deadly bug, unemployment claims averaged 44,800 a week successful California.

That means the astir caller full of 80,700 archetypal jobless claims was 80% higher than the play totals for aboriginal 2020, a jaw-dropping difference.

In different disturbing metric that points to ongoing weakness successful the California economy, the authorities present accounts for astir 1 retired of each 3 unemployment claims filed nationwide, utilizing comparable numbers that aren’t adjusted for seasonal volatility.