In March and April, California set a sad new record: an unprecedented 4.5 million Californians filed claims for unemployment benefits.
That represents 24.3% of the total workforce of California that is eligible for the unemployment insurance program. And as of May 2, more than 4.8 million Californians were receiving unemployment benefits, which represents 27.8% of all eligible employees in the state.
The state's Employment Development Department (EDD) has been deluged with calls from would-be filers. The department has been adding more staff to get out unemployment checks, which to date are worth $12.3 billion, and rising.
The EDD's call center and computer systems are proving not quite up to the task, according to a number of frustrated filers. But this is the first time in living memory the agency has faced an economic tsunami of this size.
For context, back in the late 2000s at the height of the Great Recession, the EDD processed just 700,000 claims. It processed more than half that number just last week.
Still, the number of applications submitted in California has been gradually declining over the past several weeks. The week ending on May 9 saw a decline of 32.3% in the number of applications submitted compared to the previous week.
— Brian Watt (@RadioBWatt), and Lisa Pickoff-White (@pickoffwhite)