BUSINESS
October 20, 2012 | By Marc Lifsher and Adolfo Flores, Los Angeles Times
SACRAMENTO - California's unemployment rate fell to 10.2% in September from 10.6% in August, posting one of the biggest drops of any state for the month. The decline took the rate to its lowest level since March 2009, during the worst recession in half a century. It follows the announcement of a reduction in the national unemployment rate to 7.8% in September from 8.1% the prior month. But the employment report released Friday has a less rosy side: The California Employment Development Department reported that only 8,500 net new payroll jobs were created statewide in September.
BUSINESS
November 5, 2013 | By Ricardo Lopez
The California Assembly will hold a hearing Wednesday to determine what exactly went wrong with a botched upgrade to the state's unemployment benefits computer system that has left thousands without jobless checks for weeks. The Times has reported extensively on the problems that began over Labor Day weekend, when the California Employment Development Department launched the update. A problem occurred when transferring old claims data to the new software, which was designed by Deloitte Consulting, a New York firm with a record of delivering IT projects in California over budget and often with problematic results. LIVE CHAT: Join us at 11 a.m. The glitch affected as many as 300,000 claims, delaying payments to tens of thousands of unemployed Californians, according to internal emails.
BUSINESS
April 18, 2013 | By Marc Lifsher
SACRAMENTO -- Much-dreaded automatic federal budget cuts are about to be felt by more than 400,000 long-term unemployed in California. The California Employment Development Department, which administers both state and federal unemployment insurance programs, will be cutting the federal portion by approximately 17.7% beginning April 28. LIVE VIDEO CHAT: Join us at 2 p.m. That represents a tiny share of the $85-billion reduction in...
BUSINESS
March 23, 2012 | By Alejandro Lazo
California's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 10.9% in February even as the state added thousands of new jobs. The percentage of jobless workers held the same as January, though it was down from 12.0% in February last year. The rate remained the same even as the state added 4,000 total jobs in February, according to the California Employment Development Department. The state has gained a total of 333,100 jobs since the recovery began in September 2009. The U.S. unemployment rate was unchanged in February at 8.3%.
BUSINESS
June 1, 2012 | By Ricardo Lopez
Ten job agencies around the state have received a $5-million grant to be used to train and place military veterans in jobs, the California Employment Development Department said Friday. Each of the agencies, which include four in Los Angeles County, received $500,000 to help train and place military veterans, who have higher unemployment rates than civilian workers. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the jobless rate for military members who have served since September 2011 was 12.1% last year -- more than three points higher than national jobless rate in 2011, which was 8.9%.
BUSINESS
April 20, 2012 | By Ricardo Lopez
California's labor market continued its slow improvement in March as employers added jobs for the eighth straight month. Payrolls grew by 18,200 jobs last month, according to figures released Friday by the California Employment Development Department. That's on top of a revised 38,600 jobs in February. The unemployment rate increased to 11% in March, up slightly from February's 10.9% rate. Still, improving job prospects have encouraged more California workers to reenter the labor force, driving the jobless rate higher, said Dennis Meyers, principal economist for the state's Department of Finance.