Economy

After the Great Recession, California signed an exclusive contract with Bank of America to distribute unemployment benefits through prepaid debit cards. A CalMatters investigation reveals that to this day, no one knows how much the bank has made off the deal. Lawmakers are examining the bank’s role in mass account freezes and untold amounts of missing money for thousands of struggling jobless Californians — as well as where the bank may have failed to keep unemployment money safe from fraud.

Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a new round of curfews from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. to slow the spread of the coronavirus in California. Businesses say they have already altered hours to comply with health restrictions and some county sheriff's offices plan not to enforce.

Though the pandemic-induced recession hasn’t been as bad as expected, it is hitting the most vulnerable Californians hardest.

In the latest installment of the “Future of Work” series, California mayors explain their cities’ most pressing issues.

A lopsided victory for the measure to keep Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart drivers classified as contractors with limited job benefits puts labor groups on defense.

Delays at the Employment Development Department’s Work Sharing layoff-prevention program have left some struggling workers out thousands of dollars. Economists say that fixing the problems fast could help ease the state’s jobs crisis.

Gig companies embark on a last-minute spending blitz after a court rules that drivers should be paid as employees and labor groups question campaign tactics.

An Oct. 15 state deadline to restore $11 billion in funding for education, housing and state workers looks likely to pass with no more financial help from Washington. Is there still hope for a reprieve, and could deeper cuts follow?

A CalMatters analysis shows that Cal/OSHA dispatches inspectors in just 5% of COVID complaint cases. Non-COVID complaints were more than twice as likely to result in on-site inspections — but that’s still far below the pre-pandemic share.

As California's unemployment agency tries to cut off fraudsters, real unemployed Californians have found their benefit accounts suddenly frozen.