Californians’ Unemployment Claims Increase 5 Times More Than Other Americans’ During Recall Week

Employment Development Department paperwork in Irvine, Calif., on April 2, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Commentary

Californians’ recent increase in claims for unemployment insurance represented 60 percent of the increase for the entire United States.

According to the report (pdf) this week from the U.S. Department of Labor on unemployment insurance claims for the week ending Sept. 18, claims across the U.S. totaled 306,209, up 40,307 from the previous week.

According to same report, claims in California were up 24,221 from the previous week.

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the overall population of California, at 39.5 million, is only 11.9 percent of the entire U.S. population of 331.5 million.

That means the increase in claims filed by Californians from the previous week is five times their proportion of the overall U.S. population (60 percent of the increase versus 12 percent).

The 24,000 increase is 60 percent of the 40,000 increase in claims for the entire U.S.

Looking at absolute numbers rather than the change, total claims in California for unemployment insurance for the week ending August 18 totaled 75,817.

The approximately 75,000 claims in California represent about 25 percent of the 300,000 claims for all of the US.

This points to possibly less hiring during the California recall election, which completed on Sept. 14.

It also may point to a number of school districts in California allowing their teachers more time to decide whether to retire.

The proportion of Californians filing for unemployment insurance claims is two times their proportion of the overall U.S. population (25 percent versus 12 percent).

The most recent data from the State of California’s Employment Development Department showed a strong economy four weeks before the recall election. The most recent state-level unemployment report addressed data from a survey taken during the week including Aug. 11, when the unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent from 7.6 percent the previous month.

Now that the recall election has been decided and policy makers can get back to work, the economy in California as measured by claims for unemployment insurance may start to look more like the overall U.S. economy. Time will tell.