You may have heard how fake pandemic unemployment claims flooded California, or how desperate callers clogged phone lines with questions the state employment agency struggled to answer. But there’s another problem with the Golden State’s unemployment system that has been quietly brewing during the pandemic: California now has the unfortunate distinction of having as much […]
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Newsom is Running Out of Time to Sign Bills
T-minus three days. That’s how much time Gov. Gavin Newsom has left to decide the fate of the remaining bills on his desk — and as the deadline draws nearer, the buildup for big-ticket and contentious proposals is getting more intense. The direct impact of Newsom’s decisions was particularly apparent Wednesday, when he signed a […]
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Is California Blowing it on Unemployment Reform?
If not for a persistent mail carrier, Lance Hastings might not have discovered all of the fake unemployment claims. Last September, the head of the California Manufacturers & Technology Association got the first jobless claim from a worker he’d never employed. Mistakes happen, he thought, and reported the letter sent to the group’s boarded-up former […]
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Who Will Pay for All of California’s Unemployment Fraud?
A 1-year-old in Fresno raking in $167 a week. An ex-state employee stealing $200,000 from California’s unemployment system, some by impersonating Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Another $1.2 million swindled by a rapper who bragged about it on YouTube, $1 billion drained in the name of state prisoners, and $2 billion in jobless benefits siphoned off state-issued […]
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How EDD, Bank of America Make Millions on California Unemployment
She didn’t know it at the time, but last September was when everything started to unravel for Julie Hansen. It was late in the month when the furloughed Disneyland candy maker noticed a string of suspicious charges totaling $12,222.23 on her state-issued Bank of America unemployment debit card. First, the money was credited back to […]
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Humboldt County Unemployment Rate Improves Slightly in June to 11.6 Percent, T-S Reports
The Times-Standard is reporting that Humboldt County’s unemployment rate slightly decreased to 11.6 percent from 12 percent in May. However, the report states that the improvement might be overshadowed by another increase in unemployment rates due to the shutdown of services in some sectors on Friday. Read the full story here.
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Huffman Asks Constituents to Weigh-in on COVID-19 Impacts, Actions Needed
North Coast Congressmember Jared Huffman is asking constituents to participate in an online Coronavirus Relief and Recovery Survey to give feedback on the pandemic’s impacts and what actions they believe the federal government needs to take to address the resulting public health and economic crisis. The survey can be found here and will be available […]
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Still Far Higher than Pre-COVID-19, Humboldt Showed Small Unemployment Dip in May, T-S Reports
The Times-Standard reports that preliminary information from the Employment Development Department shows that Humboldt County’s unemployment rate dipped in May when compared to April but was still far higher than before the COVID-19 outbreak. Read the full story here.
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Pandemic Steals Most from Immigrant Working Women
Early estimates indicate that the coronavirus pandemic has stolen jobs from non-citizen workers — including immigrants who have green cards, work visas or are undocumented — in California at higher rates than citizens. And women have suffered greater job loss than men. But it’s the Californians at that intersection, women who aren’t citizens, who have […]
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Times Standard: Humboldt County Unemployment Rate Up 986 Percent from Last Year
The California Employment Development Department announced Thursday that Humboldt County’s unemployment rate rose to 986 percent since last year according to a Times-Standard report. In March, there were 6,192 claims filed by Humboldt County residents. In April, an additional 5,846 claims were filed. Read the full story here.
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Are California Businesses Getting a Fair Share of Coronavirus Loans?
California businesses have received $66.6 billion in federal Paycheck Protection Program loans so far, about 13 percent of the nation’s total, according to federal loan data. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state’s businesses didn’t receive a proportional share of the federal money in the first round, but that it is now “punching above its weight” […]
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COVID-19 Economic Losses Continue to Mount
The economic losses of the COVID-19 induced shutdown continue to mount, with at least 270 more job losses in Humboldt County over the last week, according to an ongoing economic impact survey of local businesses conducted by the Office of Emergency Services. The 729 businesses that have responded report a total revenue loss of $30.2 […]