California Unemployment Hasn't Peaked Yet: 100,000 Lose Benefits in Days

04-18-2010 • Businessinsider.com/

The Employment Development Department estimates that about 100,000 Californians will have exhausted their benefits by this weekend. "Jobs have not been quickly multiplying, so there's a lot of people who are still in need of assistance," said Loree Levy, a spokeswoman with the Employment Development Department. California payrolls increased by 4,200 nonfarm jobs in March, primarily in the sectors of manufacturing, educational and health services, and leisure and hospitality. Still, the unemployment rate rose as many who had been discouraged by the job hunt resumed their search. This is why if we talk about unemployment in the strict sense of the government figures (which are perversely affected by people either giving up their job search or starting to look around), unemployment will take a long time to come down. Not only must news jobs created for those still looking for work, but new jobs must also be created for all the people who dropped out of the labor force entirely yet would come back if they saw hope again.