California Unemployment Claims Backlog May Persist Until Next Year

A woman wears a mask as she enters a building where the Employment Development Department (EDD) has its offices in Los Angeles, Calif., on May 4, 2020. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

California officials said it may take until Jan. 27, 2021, for the state’s Employment Development Department (EDD) to work its way through a massive backlog of unemployment cases accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EDD implemented a “two week reset” starting Sept. 19 to address the issue, among others, and said the agency would stop accepting new unemployment claims during that time.