The measure would grant unemployment benefits to striking workers by amending existing state law. Republicans oppose the measure, making the bill’s future in the GOP-controlled Senate uncertain.
The state’s jobless rate is at 3.6 percent, which is lower than the national rate, but there are 90,000 unfilled jobs across several industries. The state is attempting to attract workers with education and job training.
The California governor vetoed a labor bill that would have made workers eligible for unemployment payments after two weeks on strike. Newsom said the bill would put more strain on the already stressed system.
The state Assembly voted 53-14 to give employees on strike access to state unemployment insurance benefits, despite concerns about an indebted and poorly structured fund. The Senate will consider the bill next.
The state’s Labor and Employment Department moved its fraud detection tools to the “highest possible level” in the spring to prevent further fraud. However, the effort has caused significant slowdowns for legitimate claims.
The national share of employed women in their prime working age hit 75.3 percent in June, the highest recorded rate since the U.S. Census Bureau began reporting numbers in 1948.
State lawmakers must develop a plan for dealing with a potential multibillion-dollar budget hole that stems from misuse of COVID-era funds for unemployment benefits. But some still believe there could be room for tax cuts.
While reports of low unemployment and increasing wages are typically good news to the labor force, workers are still experiencing burnout, challenging hiring processes and concerns about caregiving, health and transportation.
A bill proposed by state Democrats would provide assistance to striking workers, despite unemployment benefits historically being restricted to those who lost their jobs through layoffs and corporate downsizing.
When bus service was eliminated for five years in Clayton County, in the Atlanta metro area, residents endured substantial increases in poverty and unemployment rates.
The state’s employment office will review the cases of 136,000 residents who collectively received $1.2 billion in “overpayments.” Only approximately 21,000 residents can expect to have their repayments waived.
The Pennsylvania county has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels for job availability despite the unemployment rate hitting record lows. Nationally there are 11 million open jobs but only 5.7 million unemployed workers.
Calls to the state’s Employment Security Department were answered just 12.5 percent of the time in December and problems left over from the pandemic continue to backlog the benefits system, delaying relief for residents.
Two million Californians lost unemployment benefits last September when pandemic-era programs ended a lifeline for many workers, specifically those who were less-educated, Black or over the age of 64.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a bipartisan agreement to fill the financial hole in the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund, which once stood at $4.5 billion, that was depleted by the pandemic.
In September, the state had nearly 1.03 million job openings, which amounts to almost 1.8 openings for every unemployed resident. Dallas-Fort Worth added 255,000 jobs in the last year, roughly 2.5 times the usual pace.
