An unemployment rate that has “skyrocketed” could leave as many as one-fourth of California’s workforce without jobs — akin to the rates during the Great Depression — Gov. Gavin Newsom warned Monday in a forbidding assessment about how the coronavirus has wrecked the state’s now weak economy.
“Unemployment numbers” in California “will be north of 20 percent,” Gov. Newsom said during a regular briefing to discuss the state’s war against the deadly bug. The latest official unemployment rate for California is due to be released on May 22.
California has received a jaw-dropping 4.5 unemployment claims since mid-March when state and local government agencies began to impose business shutdowns and other mandates in a quest to combat the coronavirus, the governor said during his news briefing.
That could mean 23 percent of California’s workers have lost their jobs since March 12. The 4.5 million in unemployment claims would be roughly 23.3 percent of the current workforce of 19.3 million.
At the nadir of the Great Depression, the nation’s unemployment rate reached 24.9 percent in 1933. The EDD is due to release the official jobs report and the statewide unemployment rate for California on May 22.
Since March 12, the EDD has distributed $13.1 billion in payments to workers who have filed unemployment claims, the governor said.
About $3.4 billion of that was paid out just last week, the governor said.
The great majority of California’s economy continues to function, the governor said, despite being hobbled by the government mandates.
“Over 70 percent of the economy in California is open,” Gov. Newsom said.
