All posts tagged "Laborandemploymentdata"

Even as economists are forecasting an economic slowdown and rising unemployment in Washington later this year, the state system that provides benefits to jobless workers hasn't even recovered from the last slump. Washingtonians still wait longer to get benefits from the state Employment Security Department than they did before COVID shuttered the economy in 2020, even though fewer are filing claims. Workers whose benefits are delayed struggle to get help: calls to the ESD's help desk were answered just 12.5% of the time in December. "It's just been like a surrealistic nightmare," said Aydin Ba......

Almost three years after COVID-19 shut down the economy and put nearly half a million Washingtonians out of work, the job market remains in a state of confusing, unnerving flux. In some industries, such as hospitality and white-collar services, recovering demand continues to fuel hiring and keep opportunities plentiful for workers. In September, Justin Fernandez was recruited by Zen Techworks, a small but growing IT support services firm in Ballard — and is still getting five to 10 recruiter emails a week. "It just seems that the skill set I have is, at least for the foreseeable future, going ......

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom late Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have made undocumented immigrants eligible for California unemployment benefits. The bill, known as theExcluded Workers Pilot Program, would have provided up to $300 a week for 20 weeks to unemployed individuals. To qualify, applicants would have had to demonstrate they were California residents, unemployed for at least one week and ineligible for state unemployment insurance. Currently, unemployment insurance is distributed by the state’s Employment Development Department and is only available to residents who are ......

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With hundreds of bills awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto or approval, dozens of undocumented immigrant workers and allies are crossing the state in a two-day vehicle caravan to pressure him to sign legislation that would extend unemployment benefits to all Californians regardless of immigration status. The caravan is slated to begin Tuesday morning in Ontario and make stops in Pasadena, Oxnard and Fresno in the afternoon. The caravan will continue to San Francisco on Wednesday. Participants are hopeful the two-day effort will bring the needs of California’s undocumented wo......

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Republicans launched the latest round of California vs. Florida Friday, warning Gov. Gavin Newsom that comparing his state’s economy to Florida’s — and, by extension, his leadership to that of Gov. Ron DeSantis — is a “comparison Newsom is likely going to regret.” The GOP issued the warning to the California governor in an email titled, “Florida vs. California, state jobs edition.” In fact, the latest numbers are a glass-half-open, glass-half-full proposition that give both states’ governors reason to brag — and find fault. California’s job gains over the last year were th......

Donald Trinks is seeing both sides of the labor problem in his restaurant: less business from travelers and not enough workers to capitalize on the business he has left. More people want to eat in his restaurant, Bart’s Drive-In in Windsor, Connecticut, but Trinks has to close on Wednesday and Thursday nights because he can’t find enough workers. At the same time, his catering business is down because business travel has evaporated with the surge of the coronavirus delta variant. “We do a lot of business catering, and there’s a lot less business meetings and people coming in from out of state,......