The latest unemployment numbers are out, and they offer an increasingly sobering snapshot of the economy. Since March 14, when the coronavirus pandemic began shutting down entire sectors of the economy, California has processed more than 4.4 million claims for unemployment — that represents 25.7% of the state's total workforce that's eligible for job loss assistance.
Last week, more than 246,000 Californians were among the 2.4 million Americans who applied for unemployment benefits, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Unemployment applications in California had been slowly falling during the past several weeks, but last week saw an uptick of 15.7% over the previous week — representing a 557.6% increase compared to the same time period last year.
In the past nine weeks, jobless claims nationwide have totaled 38.6 million. A Federal Reserve survey found that job cuts were concentrated among lower-wage workers: In households making less than $40,000, nearly 40% said they were out of work, NPR reported.
— Monica Lam (@monicazlam) and Lisa Pickoff-White (@pickoffwhite), with contributions from the Associated Press.