California workers filed fewer unemployment claims last week than any other since government stay-at-home and shutdown orders began last March in an effort to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Labor Department said 53,000 California workers filed for unemployment last week. Just shy of 44,000 workers in the state filed for unemployment for the week ending March 7, 2020, nine days before six Bay Area counties and Berkeley issued the country’s first stay-at-home orders.
Last week’s jobless claims were down 19,000 from the previous week, representing the second-biggest decrease in the U.S. behind Pennsylvania (24,000). Across the country, 9,000 fewer workers filed for unemployment, while the Labor Department said the four-week moving average (402,500) is at its lowest since March 14, 2020 (225,500).
Alameda (3,290) and Santa Clara (3,152) counties led the Bay Area with jobless claims, but both had over 2,000 fewer claims than the previous week, according to California Employment Development Division data. Both counties, plus Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma counties, had its fewest claims since last March 14.
Unemployment claims continued to be filed along gendered and racial lines.
Although the Labor Department’s most recent estimates pegged women’s share of the labor force at 47%, Bay Area women accounted for 52% of the region’s unemployment claims last week. In Alameda County, for instance, 31% of the jobless claims were filed by white workers, despite whites comprising 38% of the county’s population, according to county data.
California is set to lift the vast majority of its coronavirus-related restrictions on Tuesday, including removing the statewide mask mandate and lifting capacity limits for most businesses.
City and county officials, as well as local businesses, can continue to implement their own rules. What impact the state’s new guidance will have on jobless claims next week – and beyond – remains to be seen.
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