The number of first-time unemployment claims in California fell to their lowest level in five months last week, the government reported, in a hopeful sign for a statewide economy that has been bettered by coronavirus-triggered business shutdowns.
An estimated 201,600 California workers filed first-time jobless claims during the week that ended on Aug. 15, down 900 from the 202,500 who filed initial unemployment claims in the week ending on Aug. 8, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Nationwide, the number of unemployment claims rose above the one million, totaling 1.11 million for the week that ended Aug. 15, an increase of 135,000 from the prior week.
The number of California initial unemployment claims was the lowest level since the week ending on March 21, when workers filed 186,300 unemployment claims statewide.
March 21 marked one of the early weeks of business shutdowns ordered by state and local government officials in California to combat the spread of the deadly bug.
Since the business lockdowns began around the week that ended on March 14, 7.7 million California workers have filed initial claims for unemployment, according to this news organization’s analysis of the statistics posted by the Labor Department.
The number of initial unemployment claims in California has now fallen for four consecutive weeks, but the numbers remain greatly elevated compared to the typical levels prior to the shutdowns.
During the first two months of 2020, initial unemployment claims averaged 44,800 a week in California. That means the current number of claims is four to five times greater than the numbers during January and February.
This suggests that while the job market is clearly on the mend in California, it nevertheless has a long way to go before it is fully healed.
The four-week moving average of unemployment claims in California also is showing marked improvement. A moving average is a data tool that smooths out weekly gyrations in the numbers.
During the four weeks that ended on Aug. 15, the weekly average of first-time unemployment claims in California totaled 212,700, which was down about 22,000 from the average of 239,700 that was posted for the four weeks that ended on Aug. 8.
Over the most recent one-month period, the number of unemployment claims in California fell below 900,000 for a four-week stretch for the first time since the month that ended on May 30.
During the last four weeks, California workers filed a total of 870,800 initial jobless claims, the analysis of the federal numbers shows.
