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FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
Three million Californians could lose unemployment benefits a day after Christmas amid bleak jobs outlook [San Francisco Chronicle]
Dec. 19 California’s unemployment rate stood at 8.2% in November, compared with 9% in October, a government report said on Friday. That’s more than double the 3.9% rate a year ago, before the pandemic and stay-at-home orders ravaged the job market. California has the sixth-highest unemployment rate nationwide.
Employers added 57,100 payroll jobs in November, a far slower pace of recovery than in October when the state gained 145,600 jobs. California has regained slightly less than half (46%) of the 2.6 million jobs that vanished in March and April.
Heading into a holiday season overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic and its attendant recession, millions of Americans have been left with little money and little to celebrate. Across America the haunting lines for food banks in Texas,Pennsylvania and other states paint a bleak midwinter portrait as charities struggle to cope with the financial misery left in the wake of Covid-19.
Meanwhile in Washington, Congress continues to struggle to pass a new emergency relief bill before adjourning for the holidays. And even if a bill is passed, a lag of several weeks is expected for state unemployment agencies to recommence benefits to Americans in need.
A cyclist passes by holiday lights off Platte Street in Denver on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020.
Unemployment programs meant to support people who lost their jobs because of COVID-19 will end next week, leaving hundreds of thousands without aid during one of the most critical points in the pandemic.
Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment says about 280,000 people who were eligible for or receiving benefits will stop getting benefits on Dec. 26. That’s the last payable week for federal programs set up through the CARES Act.
Gig workers, independent contractors and people who are self-employed, and were eligible for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, will see their aid end. In addition, people who were on Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which gave workers an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits will also stop receiving them.