Unemployment

California's beleaguered Employment Development Department could be asked to dole out benefits to striking workers if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill providing them the right. Critics say the EDD has enough problems to address before the next economic downturn.

The harsh reality is that California's Employment Development Department botched the management of unemployment insurance for jobless workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowed massive fraud in the dispersal of federal benefits, and still hasn't fixed its problems.

California has spent more than $600 million over the past decade to house and rehabilitate parolees in the state’s single-largest reentry program for former prisoners. After all that money, state officials can’t say whether those services were effective in preventing future crime. That’s because the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has not tracked whether […]

Scheduling note: WhatMatters will observe the Juneteenth holiday on Monday and be back in your inboxes on Tuesday. From CalMatters politics reporter Alexei Koseff: As legislative leaders continue to negotiate a budget deal with Gov. Gavin Newsom ahead of the start of the fiscal year on July 1, expansive “trailer bills” proposed by the governor […]

Planada, a small mostly Latino town, was among the first to be flooded in January. Researchers say 83% of families suffered economic losses.

As Congressional factions volley responsibility for pandemic breakdowns, Silicon Valley’s home state leads off a new book about “why government is failing in the digital age.”

The state’s 2023-24 budget has been subject to a lot of political wrangling this year as California faces a $31.5 billion spending gap. The constant push and pull of balancing the budget means that if one program, agency or proposal receives funding, something else could lose out.  The Legislature plans to pass its budget by […]

Workers denied pandemic-era jobless benefits are still struggling with debt and stress — collateral damage as they fight a state employment agency on edge about fraud and an appeals system facing a 'historic' backlog. What happens next with these and other legal battles will help decide who pays for a multi-billion-dollar debacle three years in the making.

Many Californians who lost jobs during the pandemic have been facing ongoing battles to receive unemployment benefits. During the first few months of the COVID shutdown, the state Employment Development Department became inundated with 29 million jobless claims. Since then, it has paid out $188 billion in unemployment benefits. But as CalMatters’ investigative reporter Lauren […]

A new state law aims to ensure workers with disabilities earn at least minimum wage. But some worry that the state doesn’t have enough resources to help these workers compete for jobs.