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California Hits Five-Month Low for Jobless Claims
First-time unemployment claims in California dropped to their lowest level in five months last week. Data released on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor showed California reported 201,640 initial claims filed during the week ending Aug. 15. That’s a dip from 202,509 the previous week and follows the downward trend that’s emerged over the last four consecutive weeks.
The number of insured unemployment individuals in California dropped to 2.84 million the week ended Aug. 8 from 2.96 million the previous week. And California was among the states recording the largest decreases in initial claims for the week ending August 8, too, dropping 19,534.
California’s numbers are running counter to the national jobs picture, though. Initial U.S. claims topped 1,106,000 the week ending August 15, an increase of 135,000 from the previous week.
The last time California’s initial unemployment claims number was so low was the week ending March 21 at 186,300 unemployment claims. Since then the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the economy and businesses. Labor Department numbers show a total of 7.7 million California workers have filed initial claims for unemployment since mid-March.
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- ◦Economy
