California Temporarily Halts New Unemployment Claims

Sacramento, CA — Citing efforts to prevent fraud and reduce a backlog, California will not accept new unemployment claims over the next two weeks.

The California Employment Development Department estimates that there are 600,000 claims backlogged which have not been processed in over 21 days. There are also a million cases where people received payments but are awaiting a resolution to their modified claims.

California’s unemployment rate is estimated to be around 11.4-percent (2.1-million people). Anyone filing claims between now and October 5 will need to provide contact information, and state officials will reach out to them after the two week period is over. The Employment Development Department cites outdated technology, and a spike in COVID-19 related unemployment, for the processing delays.