870,000 Americans Filed For First-Time Unemployment Benefits Last Week

 

As a reminder, last week's jobless claims are four times the pre-COVID-Lockdown average!

New York was the worst state along with Georgia as California begins to 'normalize' (see below). Illinois and Michigan saw the best improvements last week...

 

The EDD implemented a “two week reset” starting Sept. 19 to address the issue, among others, and said the agency would stop accepting new unemployment claims during that time.

The reset takes place after months of delays in processing applications and allegations of rampant fraud. The move provoked outrage among some state politicians.

The state has about 600,000 unemployment applications more than 21 days old that have not yet been processed, according to the EDD. Another 1 million Californians have received payments from the state, but have since modified their claims and are awaiting a review to continue receiving benefits.