Coronavirus: 5 million California unemployment claims in two months

The state’s labor department, unprepared for an avalanche of jobless claims unleashed by coronavirus-linked business shutdowns, has launched a “mass hiring” to bring aboard hundreds of recruits to bolster the unemployment agency’s broken call center and other operations.

A growing number of jobless California workers report that the Employment Development Department is now answering phone calls rarely in the wake of a head-spinning surge in unemployment, and now the EDD has begun to scramble in a quest to address the widening woes at the state agency.

The EDD hopes to recruit 1,800 workers within two weeks in what the beleaguered state agency describes as a “mass hiring effort.” The EDD has come under fire for its flagging efforts to process unemployment claims.

The positions are described as temporary part-time and full-time positions, and might even provide some employment for people who have lost their jobs in the aftermath of widespread shutdowns of businesses that state and local government agencies imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

“This urgent hiring effort will further enhance the EDD’s ability to process an unprecedented surge of benefit claims while offering an opportunity for employment to Californians during this difficult time,” said Sharon Hilliard, director of the state EDD.

The EDD has already deployed 3,000 workers in its unemployment insurance unit — including 1,200 who were already on staff with the EDD prior to the spike in jobless claims — and now wants to add another 1,800.

State officials say they have processed more than 5.1 million unemployment claims over a roughly two-month period stretching from mid-March through May 16 and paid out more than $16.1 billion in benefits.

Still, for an untold number of California workers who have lost their jobs in recent months, this may be of little consolation.

The state agency is still not answering phones with any consistency at the call center, jobless workers have told this news organization. Plus, customers complain of glitches that have hobbled the computer system for online claims processing.

“I’ve been calling and calling and calling, I have been trying to go online, but I got shut off in the middle of my application,” said Richard Pickering of Newark. He was working on a construction project related to the Tesla factory in Fremont when he was laid off in April. Pickering added, “This is very frustrating.”