Job Slippage in California

From the EDD release for January

From the LA Times: 

California’s winter COVID-19 surge took a grim toll on jobs as the state’s recovery lagged compared with the nation’s overall, according to recalculated state data published Friday.

The Golden State‘s economy may now be poised to turn a corner thanks to accelerating vaccinations, a loosening of restrictions on businesses and schools, and massive federal aid, but steep labor losses have delayed recovery: In December and January, the state shed 145,300 payroll jobs, according to a report from the Employment Development Department.

“As it turns out, the labor market fallout in 2020 was significantly worse than original estimates suggested,” said Taner Osman, research manager at Beacon Economics in Los Angeles. “While we expect a strong recovery in 2021, it would take an unprecedented hiring surge to regain the lost jobs, as well as the jobs we would have added during normal times.” ...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-03-12/california-job-losses-spiked-during-winter-covid-19-surge

Our post on Thursday from the new weekly unemployment benefit claims data is in keeping with this report - as are our earlier posts from the claims data.