Economy

There are warning signs for the California economy: Unemployment is inching up, tech layoffs continue and IPOs are waning. Experts expect a downturn, but it's still possible the state will avoid a recession.

Californians have said they experienced added difficulty over the past year in getting car insurance. Insurer rates have gone up more than usual.

Amid pandemic, California pushed off a plan to prevent EBT theft. Now $10 million a month is stolen from the poor, at taxpayer expense.

While state regulators craft new regulations and consult with the insurance industry, many Californians are paying extra-high premiums — or going without insurance entirely.

From lost homes to mounting debt, workers from across the state share how they were impacted by payment delays, fraud panic and mass confusion about unemployment benefits.

The EDD is getting a rebuild from the likes of Salesforce and Amazon as pandemic payment disputes drag on and fraud hits other state benefit systems. Workers, advocates and tech experts are hopeful, but wary.

One California family is haunted by their youngest son’s increasingly frantic — and futile — attempts to break through the EDD’s jammed unemployment lines.

Scammers pulled off one of the biggest suspected frauds in U.S. history while laid-off workers scrambled to survive. A CalMatters investigation finds that the EDD missed red flags and failed to make long-promised changes before the pandemic — and that once the twin crises hit, the state and its top contractors kept making money but were slow to deliver relief.

The state’s unemployment insurance debt, which ballooned as a result of the pandemic, is in dire straits with no clear path forward.

A recent incident in San Francisco spurred the Department of Motor Vehicles and the California Public Utilities Commission to suspend the licenses for Cruise’s driverless cars.