California saw unemployment claims soar during the third quarter, with initial applications for benefits skyrocketing 78 percent over the same period last year.
“Demand is up significantly,” says Loree Levy, state Employment Development Department spokeswoman.
The state estimates 1.5 million Californians were unemployed in October, 500,000 more than in October 2007. The increase pushed the statewide unemployment rate to 8.2 percent, third highest in the country after Michigan and Rhode Island, which were tied at 9.3 percent.
| 3Q’07 | 3Q’08 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial claims | 553,000 | 982,000 | 78% |
| Total benefits paid | $1.2 billion | $2.2 billion | 83% |
| Calls to EDD call center | 7.3 million | 9 million | 23% |
The combination of new applications plus extensions on previous unemployment insurance claims approved by Congress has overwhelmed the EDD, Levy says.
October call volume at EDD’s six call centers jumped from 7.3 million in 2007 to 9 million this October leaving many frustrated callers on endless hold — or cut off.
Levy says the EDD is trying to keep up with the application deluge by having staff work overtime processing claims evenings and Saturdays.
“The extra effort with overtime processing allows us to process claims in the same week we get them,” she says.
Things are expected to get even worse. Levy notes that October through March is the high season for unemployment claims due to seasonal layoffs.
In addition, EDD estimates that only 35 percent of those who are unemployed are currently receiving benefits. In the 2001-02 recession, 45 percent of those who were unemployed were receiving benefits.
Levy thinks part of the lower rate of those claiming unemployment benefits this year may be due to the number of people in construction, real estate and mortgage-related jobs who were self employed and ineligible for unemployment insurance. In 2002, the bulk of the unemployed were in high tech and manufacturing, which typically are covered.
Others may not have filed this time because they had not earned enough to be eligible for unemployment.
Levy suspects, however, that many people laid off this time may have received severance and are simply waiting to apply for unemployment.
Her best advice: use EDD’s online application system.
For more on unemployment …
- Biolase cuts staff 20%
- JP Morgan cutting 9,200 more jobs at Washington Mutual
- Calif. unemployment extension checks get delayed until mid-December
- 35,100 O.C. jobs lost in past 12 months
- Calif. workers get 20 more weeks of jobless benefits
- Fund for jobless pay down 45% since May
- Poll: Should unemployment benefits be extended?
For other recent business news …
- Report: Broadcom exec never earned UCI degrees
- Most small businesses cancel year-end bonuses
- Quest Software settles with SEC over stock options probe
- H.B. man charged in $18 million workers’ comp scheme
- Judge in billionaire’s case will unseal documents
- SoCal economic decline worse than ’90s recession
SO IF ONLY 35% OF THOSE UNEMPLOYED ARE RECORDED THEN THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS ALOT HIGHER THAN THE 8.2 % REPORTED RIGHT?
Yes, if those numbers are true then the real unemployment number is around 23%!!
35% receiving benefits of some sorts, but they should be part of the statistics. The unemployment rate is pretty complicated for most people to make use of anyway.
So is EDD hiring, or they are going to layoff their reps?
EDD hands out unemployment checks like candy. Half the people quit their jobs or don’t show up so they can collect. When the file, the EDD gives the employee the benefit of the doubt.
Some pf the people on unemployment are just lousy workers who know how to work the system.
some of my employees l let go for poor performance could easily get a job but the would rather sit on the unemployment 1st-its sad many take advantage of it it-it hurts those who really need it
EDD doesn’t pay enough to live on! People who “work the system” are very poor indeed.
I cant wait for the car dealer I work at to go out of business after Washington lets the Big Three go bk so I too can get in line for money from the state and some retraining too. Just think of everyone is screaming NO BAILOUT and the congress will listen and then there will thousands more in OC that of work, should make things real interesting dont ya think?
just another sign of the welfare state… the state of CA
Like the article the problem with the unemployment numbers is that it doesnt factor in those that are independent contractors. Moreso, it doesnt factor in the underemployeed. The underemployeed are those that are working jobs that pay far less than previous jobs they were being paid much more for or are not in the same field that they were working in previously.
The max I believe is around 410 a week. Maybe for some that is a lot of money, but that is based on an income of 40K….if you made more than that you are SOL.
i would like to know when the voters are going to stop voting democrat in this state. it has the most business-unfriendly legislation and legislators in the nation and you can blame the liberals - including the girly-man Arnie.
California is going to be like Mad Max times soon. Just kidding. The key is to have an Internet based biz, eBay or trade risky stocks. The economy will pick up again, sometime in the next 10 years. If the Internet biz fails, maybe collecting cans and bottles might be the ticket, although the competition is growing. They can rename this state to Californojobs.
Cant get unemployment if you just quit. Need to be layed off or fired. Companies with a stronger balance sheet have an excuse now to clean house. Underperfomers, slackers, ect that would be difficult to fire without mounds of paperwork and possible lawsuits. Companies can ask for volenteer’s, 53 weeks of unemployment bennies, Woo - Whoo.
I wonder if cutting the social services off for all of these illegals could help the state to afford paying all of the TRUE US Citizens that are out of work
When I was on unemployment in 2006, I tried looking for a job for 2 months, no luck so I applied for benefits. My benefits lasted only 6 months, even though it’s a 1 year claim. It is not enough to survive on, I had worked some temp jobs during the holidays in order to provide my kids a decent Christmas. It is a tough job market out there, while I am qualified to work in most fields, it still took 3 months after my claim ended to land a long term temp job thru an agency. Just this September I was lucky to have been hired permanent even though the company is on a hiring freeze due to the real estate market. I feel for those on unemployment, especially during the holidays, benefit money is not enough & doesn’t last very long. I wish luck to those struggling to find a job, even going thru agencies can be a pain in the ***.
I can’t beleive the comments here. People certainly like to kick others when they are down — as if unemployment is even enough to pay the rent. The same people probably scream against unions and other workers’ rights. It gets tiresome and predictable, and frankly I am sick of hearing it.
Iwps - Unions are the reason why GM is broke. They need to be outlawed. Worker’s rights are covered by state and federal laws.
Reply to SpamProtection. I agree, its a pretty complicated thing. They also don’t give you all of the info you need to actually calculate it. Does their term “unemployed recorded” take into account all of the people that are unemployed AND after exhausting ALL of their benefits fall out of the system and off the books (and off the statistics as well)? This used to be the case.
As the CEO of this business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack Obama is our next President, and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way. To compensate for these increases, I figure that the Clients would have to see an increase in our fees to them of about 8% but since we cannot increase our fees right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off eight of our employees instead. This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn’t know how to choose who will have to go. So, this is what I did.
I strolled through our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on our employees’ cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off.
I can’t think of a more fair way to approach this problem. These folks wanted change; I gave it to them. If you have a better idea, let me know.
Sincerely, The Boss!
PS
When Clinton was in office, they changed the unemployment to only show the ones receiving benefits. That is when it changed.
The reality is there are jobs out there especially in the mortgage business. Can you say “Modification”? These companies are popping up everywhere the problem is that people who worked in the mtg business can’t come to terms about getting paid much less than what they were used to making. I guess unemployment pays more? Get off your can & start all over again. This is the world we live in NOW.
Figure this.
We spend billions a day feeding school children. Now where can you go outside the US of A and have them feed children all week long and educate the for free. You only need to pay for dinner and the weekend feeding. Then like most go ot of the country whenever and let the school system get them caught up again when you return.
The downturn in the economy is a direct result of the housing bubble. The first jobs lost in this most recent downturn started with the mortgage industry, moved to the housing developers, than to the Realtors and on down. Now it is spilling into all other areas of the economy.
The reason for this is the irrational exuberance in the housing market and buying on margin that took place over the last 8 years. People bought homes they could not afford, people used their homes like ATM machines and bought things they could not afford, people use credit cards and buy things they can not afford….and on and on.
That is why we are where we are. People put all of their faith in a housing market that many thought would go up forever….obviously they were wrong.
To put blame on the liberals in CA or on the future Obama administration is myopic. For that matter to put blame on any one political party is foolish. This is all about greed and overconsumption.
It is time to get back to more fundamental lending standards, to spend within your means, and to learn to truly save for the future. Our children need to be taught these principles or the future of CA or any state is in great jeopardy.
well i guess working for the EDD is a guarantee foro job security
“Levy says the EDD is trying to keep up with the application deluge by having staff work overtime processing claims evenings and Saturdays.”
…why not just give the peole on the phone a job ???
Well put Samson….we in California are too much of an over-indulgent state. It’s finally bit us in the arse and now we are paying the fiddler for it.
Actually this happens in most of Europe, especially in the Nordic countries like Finland and Sweden. These countries provide free education all the way up through University. They give the option for students to choose a secondary degree or a vocation. Additionally, these countries have the highest literacy rates and highest test scores in math and science. So it seems they are doing something right.
The is probably something to be said about the homogeneousness of those societies. The xenophobia here in the US has proven to be a big stumbling block.
So me being an illegal immigrant in Sweden, they would cover my family’s education?
Then sign me up for a citizen of their country, like amnesty?
I think not.
Jeff, why don’t you just shut your pie hole. All your comments are either moronic, idiotic or simply stupid. Just your comment about firing employees with an Obama bumper sticker. Do you realize you have just set yourself up for lawsuits based on political bias? What an idiot!!!
Yesman — there certainly are unions in Germany, Japan and Korea, and those car companies are far from going broke. It is just more of the same, tired arguments that we already know by heart. You are only good at excuses — nothing more.
Jeff, you rock!!!! What a fanstastic way to decide who doesn’t need a job, people who wanted and voted for fake change. They will get thier change in quarters and nickels at the unemployment office, a place where both employers like myself pay big bucks into. Luckily I have a small business and have fought 3 unemployment claims and WON. Waste of my time to have to go listen to the liars who didn’t want to work and wanted to chat on the phone w/ friends, email recipes, and lie about why they quit (one was a hothead on steroids who slammed his new biz cards on my desk and walked about after I asked him to punch a time clock - he was “too good” to punch a time clock - but everyone does it to make it easier to calculate the VACATION TIME THEY GET. I will be giving out bonus this year and its a miracle because after 12 years we are going to show a profit.
Jeff, you are ignorant. Shut your pie-hole! Housing market bubble has burst; construction market in the toilet w/major trickle down effect. What would you know how to do if you lost your cushy, unrealistic CEO job tommorrow? What if all you knew was construction your whole life and was a 3rd generation WHITE journeyman carpenter who made a decent living for a fair and decent pay, did clean work and sacrificed your body while doing it; all for yuor family? Oh yeah… did I mention WHITE construction worker because they are the MINORITY out there in the housing tracks. EED is a joke as we pay in for yrs. and get hardly anything back in return the first and only time we make a claim. Very sad because we are paying for all the Juans and Alberto’s out there!!!
EDD is funded by employee and employer contributions, not taxes. It’s not ‘welfare,’ it’s more like insurance for the day you find yourself unemployed due to no fault of your own.
The max is $450 a week, which is hard to live on if you made enough to qualify for it. My savings floated the difference until I could adjust my lifestyle–as a renter it was easy to downgrade, I don’t know what I’d be doing if I had a mortgage.
I was laid off from a white collar construction job, there is nothing in my field and related fields are saturated. I’m over- or under-qualified for everything, and have only landed a few interviews over the last 3 months.
When I am able to get 1099 consulting work, UI doesn’t pay me if I earned sufficient wages. That means every assignment has to be more than $450 to be worth showing up or my time is better spent job hunting. I could easily support myself if I committed 1099 consulting full time, but I do not have health insurance and minor chronic issues make single payer plans impossible to afford (if I could even qualify).
If hiring doesn’t pick up at the beginning of the year, I will likely end up bagging groceries with my 4 year degree and 5+ years of professional experience just so I can afford my prescriptions, and I’ll probably have to dumb-down my resume to even get that job.
Hmm 8 years ago the country had a surplus of money and the economy was good, the housing market was fine, the stock market was fine, there were no wars, gas was cheaper, unemployment was lower, what is the common denominator? BUSH, 8 years of Bush’s failed policies, fake business practices, inept mortgage loans and overall total corporate greed to the fullest possible limit. I think it’s funny that BushTard is going out in a ball of flames leaving the country in shambles with no way to rewrite history to save his man-boy ego. It’s just a shame that Obama will spend 4 years doing janitorial duties cleaning up S@#T before he can focus on new projects.
Jeff,
You are an idiot…..
Maybe all you Repubs. will finally admit now that the Republican philosophy of trickle down and hands off the economy is a failure of mass proportions. Many of you will have a lot of time to ponder your Republican ideas. Since your gonna be laid off work in 09. Thanks to your beloved Bush.
All you Repubtards are to blame. Your idiot policies have ruined the economy. I wonder how many of you Republikans will be standing in line to collect unemployment benefits. The same govt. benefits you ran your mouth against all these years. All you Republicants make me sick with your double standards. Dont even try to collect unemployment if your a registered Republican. Get your but out of that line !
There is a huge competition going on right now for grants and funding in the biofuels industry. The enormous amounts of money that the Fed and state governments are offering is a clear sign of where the jobs are going to be in the next 20 years. States and counties that can encourage biofuel companies to locate manufacturing operations in California are going to generate jobs directly or thru a CA supplier base.. Most of our Aerospace manufacturers have moved manufacturing off (the California) shore. The petroleum industry is ripe to go next. Being a second generation CA, I would love nothing more than to stay here and hire my CA neighbors. Realistically, staying here is only in the short term plan. It is darn near inevitable that we are going to have to move our permanent operations to another state unless CA is capable of re-inventing itself. Part of that has to be dealing head on with the “sick, lame, and lazy.” @ss, gas, or grass, nobody rides for free.
For those of you who don’t know, EDD has an out dated computer system. About 2 years ago while I was online with them, the woman I spoke to said she had to wait for her computer to reboot, they are still using DOS. They haven’t even upgraded to WIndows 95 LOL
I don’t care about those people getting Unemployment check, I already git me a welfare check for 20 years now, yeehaww….
LEGAL GROUP FIGHTING FOR THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER.
Anti-illegal advocates will be on their guard against the new team under president elect Obama who has promised a path to Citizenship-AMNESTY
When I subscribed freely to Judicial Watch, I found out that citizens, legal residents had a strong legal advocate and that we are not alone fighting corruption in Washington. Tom Fitton, president of this group has had outstanding success of using the court system in fighting pro-illegal immigration groups, the corrupt politicians and special interest lobby who pander to the invaders. IF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON’T STOP THOSE ALREADY HERE, MILLIONS MORE WILL EXPECT A WELCOME MAT. It is estimated that the cost to supporting illegal aliens is over a $1trillion dollars a year in government handouts.
There are already 37 million here, according to Tucson Border Patrol Union–not 13 Million? An additional half-million are coming every year. YOU PAY!
Go to their website http://www.judicialwatch.org/ and learn more about the ongoing investigation into unlawful ‘Sanctuary city and state’ laws, pariah employers, underfunded border fence, criminal aliens and the growing costs to American taxpayers.
You can bet many of those “self-employed” people not applying for benefits are illegal aliens. Yes, the unemployment rate is WAY UNDERSTATED.
Jeff, you are an idiot. I bet you drive a foreign car and don’t support the US economy in any shape or form. You probably live in Newport Coast, have a trophy wife, who has never had to work a day in her life to make ends meet or have the basic medical insurance that so many families need. It’s obvious you don’t have any compassion for those who are not as fortunate as you, but then again, you have your lily white collar job. How dare you to be so condescending of other’s beliefs because they don’t agree with yours. After 8 yrs. of Bush’s crap, we are in a world of hurt here. CHANGE is good and about damn time!!! Get over it sucker and buck up. I feel for those who are out of jobs and it’s not because they are lazy, slackers but due to the economic downturn. MOST are hardworking people who would rather work than deal with the EED.
I have a minor clarification to make on things others have said. Although the housing bubble happened while Bush was in office, it was actually Clinton’s policies that started this ball rolling. No joke. Clinton wanted everyone to have the opportunity to own their own home.
If Girly man Arnold supported 287(G) and E-verify, we would be halfway to ridding the state of it’s 3~5 million illegal aliens. Then there would be thousands of jobs opened up for legal immigrants and American citizens. To allow that many illegals to be employed in this state is an insult to all that are looking for work. The state is broke because of the $10,000 spent on each illegal alien student. Hospitals are broke or closed down because of indiginant care for, you guessed it, illegal aliens. The prisons or overcrowded with, you guessed it, illegal aliens. Billions are spent on them here every year. That could be stopped and should be before one penny of taxes are increased. I don’t want to pay for the feeding, housing, education, imprisonment and health care of illegals. Do you?
Jimi - So true. You didn’t need to be a citizen to buy a home on stated income, to later default on either. But even the illegals don’t want to stay here anymore. I read something recently that even they are running back to Mexico to find work.
You think the war in Iraq is costing us too much? Read this:
Boy, was I confused. I have been hammered with the propaganda that it is the Iraq war and the war on terror that is bankrupting us. I now find that to be RIDICULOUS.
I hope the following 14 reasons are read until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I also have included the URL’s for verification of all the following facts.
1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.
Verify at: http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school
education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of english!
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html
5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
Verify at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
Verify at: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that’s two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US
Verify at: http://tr anscripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that
crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from
Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.
Verify at: Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National policy Institute, ‘estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of
between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.’
Verify at: http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances to
their countries of origin.
Verify at: http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm>
14. ‘The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One million sex crimes
Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The Un ited States .’
Verify at: http: // http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
The total cost is a whopping $ 338.3 B ILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.
Are we THAT stupid?
If this doesn’t bother you then just delete the message. If, on the other
hand, it does raise the hair on the back of your neck, I hope you forward it
to every legal resident in the country including every elected represenative in Washington , D.C. - five times a week for as long as it takes to restore some
semblance of intelligence in our policies and enforcement thereof.
Any sane half way educated or common sensical person could see for years what California was coming to. Now this would exclude, college professors, teachers, politicians, etc. Whether they could see what was coming or not was a moot point to them. As long as they could continue to draw their salaries and pensions, and ignore the invasion of millions of foreign nationals, from mainly Mexico, ALLwas well with them. In fact, California is a prelude to what is going to happen to the whole United States. Why will it happen? Because the reality is, AMERICANS DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR FAMILIES, FRIENDS NEIGHBORS, AND CERTAINLY NOT THEIR NATION–OR THEY WOULD BE AWARE AND TAKE ACTION. WE ARE DOOMED AS A FIRST WORLD NATION.
Quoting the “boss”:
“I strolled through our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on our employees’ cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off.
I can’t think of a more fair way to approach this problem. These folks wanted change; I gave it to them. If you have a better idea, let me know.”
Boss, you are soooooo busted!
I don’t know who you reallly are, but I would guess that you are a conservative partisan implant. I have read this fictional story over and over again on internet news articles about unemployment in about every state across the country. Do you get paid to surf the net and post this propaganda or do you just do it for fun??
Go play in the sandbox awhile and chill! No body is listening to your meaningless rants about Obama except others just like you!
Hey, c’mon people, there is no need for race baiting on this site! We are all in this mess together.
EDD GIVES PHONE-IN CALLERS PRIORITY OVER ONLINE FILERS FOR THE SECOND EXTENSION!!! DON’T BE FOOLED!
I became concerned about my claim for extended benefits, because I filed online on the EDD website on 11/22, ( as they requested) two days after Bush signed the new extension legislation. Since then, I have emailed two inquires online on the website inquiring as to the status of my claim. I have received NOTHING from EDD.
I then saw a post on a Congressional website, from someone who had been able to get thru to a LIVE BODY at EDD last week and had their claim processed immediately by the EDD rep. This person has already received an award status letter AND a claim form to complete and mail in for the first two eligible weeks ending 11/29 & 12/6.
That sent me into the stratosphere, so I spoke to my state assemblyman’s office on Friday, 12/5. The clerk at Assemblyman K’s office said he was sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but NO online requests have been processed at EDD and NO claim forms or award letters would be going out until AFTER January 1st, due to the antiquated computer system and the volume of claims.
What incenses me, is why CALL IN claims are being processed on the spot, no matter the date of the claim, but those of us who complied with the request of EDD and filed online, have been thrown under the bus. I tried to reach a rep at EDD on Friday for two hours, redialing every 10 seconds to no avail. This was not the first time! Why can’t EDD update the website every few days with current information as to the processing of claims? It would reduce the calls and emails to EDD and free up the staff to work more efficiently.
I wish the OC Register would investigate this and publish an updated report on the EDD delays. Communication is the key to lessen the frustration we are feeling.
Any assistance from the Register would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
I was laid off on the 7th and am still waiting for my check. I am broke, hungry and soon to be homeless. I never thought this could ever happen to me.
Let me tell you…I am not sitting here on my laurels.If you think you can sit on “the dole” foa a piddly $235.00 a week. Great! Where do you live> Figure it out, my rent is $1,400.00 It won’t be long before the sheiff posts the eviction notive on my door. And I AM diligently seekig employment. So to OCTIMES, I’ll bet my next unemployment check, if it ever arrives, that you voted for Bush and twice. You are the reason for this mess we are all in and the rest of these Republicans. Thank God Bush is out and now Obama can tax all these businesses and people fortunate enough to mnake over 250K a year.and at least supplement the unemployment insurance! LOL!By the way OCTIMES apparently you have a job available for a hard worker. Can I have it. Our views will not mesh but you can get a lot out of me for $50K per year. Maybe 12 hour days. Let me know!
These responses are actually to read. You can tell who the idiots are who are Republicans and the people who actually voted to help out their fellow man by voting for Obama. I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL HE TAKES OFFICE AND SEE THESE PEOPLE SCREAMING LIKE THEY ARE IN THE PIT OF HELL. Also, cannot wait until these people who are so self righteous about welfare and unemployment have their taxes increased because obviously they make over 250k per year.
I cannot believe the horrible comments from OCTIMES. He/she does not have a clue — there are many good workers laid off because of various reasons including, office politics, beauracracy, and AGE!
Sounds like a lot of potential foreclosures are about to become…
forsuresures.
Remaining homeDEBTORs need to watch out for that big hole in their floor where their homes market value price was last seen heading for China, who probably holds their mortgage ironically.
Global crisis, WWWIII apocolypto scenarios have entered the room in an invisible gorilla costume weghing 800 pounds.
I agree with Jeff. I went to school in Los Angeles in the 60s and never did my parents or grandparent expect the school system to feed their kids. My parents worked too, but we got up early for a full breakfast, toast or cold ceral and they packed our lunch the night before. It was a treat to buy lunch at school and we appreciated it and looked forward to it. When my kids went to school they wanted to know why they were the few that didn’t get a lunch ticket.
Another thing the system must stop supporting children of unemployed mothers. ONE child minimum (I suppose), but two, three, four….. give my a break. What is wrong with the system. Women know that they will continue to get assistance no matter how many kids they have and how many men father their childen. Money, Medical and Food Stamps (what a deal). Most of these women feel this is owed to them and end up on General Relief and Section 8 (rent paid) when their kid are grown because they never worked. And the cycle usually continues with their children.
If the government refuses to support child number two, three,… the word will get out and woman will stop have kids to live off of. Oh, yeah these are the same kids that get free food at school so their parents don’t really pay for their dinner and weekend meals, food stamps do that. It is agravating to stand in line a Von’s after work behind able bodied couples with govenment vouchers buying name brand products (they use thier cash for beer) while most of us must resort to store coupons and store brands to get a break. I just want to use my hard earned cash not stand behind someone for 15 minutes while they ring up three or four food groups to match every voucher.
Don’t get me wrong I do know some families get in a bind and need assistance, but they get back to work the first chance they get.
I don’t understand why the government isn’t getting it.
Well………..I can see that whoever edited my response must have been a man at OC Register with his IQ matching that part that he thinks is important…..and in his case that would equal about no doubt a 6
Agree with Mel, I wonder which ethnicity group you are referring to? Trust me I know. I do foreclosure work right now is some not so great areas. My mind is boggled at how many grown adults especially women are at home raising 3-4 babies in awful conditions with 6 cars in the driveway and parked cars in the yards. Living off disability, welfare, unemployment you name it..
KATRINA, Great Post!
Welcome to the world of W Bush , he is not like his father , he failed in business , and now he failed as a president , the aftermath is yet yo come and obama has to deal with it , its going to get worse…Its going to take atleast 4 years to straighten out this mess…remember its not the democrats , liberals or republicans , it was W.Period
Now party like its 1929….I lokk at it as an anal clenching adventure , hang on…
D Scott
Home prices will continue to fall , the average wage going across the US is 18 dollars an hour.but peoplen were going out and buying there 400,000 dollar Mc Mansions.and the people who had equty in there homes were spending it like a low interst credit card. The society wont come into ballance till the home prices are affordable again…watch what happens in the next couple of years…
Buy the way did you know the savings and loan companies are now buying oil and storing it in supertankers. they are picking up the oil at 20 dollars a barrel , and hoping that when gas prices go back up they are going to resale it at a higher market value.Thats where all you money went when you bought the Mc mansions…and now they are in forclosure , they are investing YOUR money for themselves in oil…Google it ,Banks buying super tankers and buying oil.peace
We can only hope for Divine intervention for the human race.at this time.
We linked to this article in a post on the CA NOW blog: “World’s 8th Largest Economy Broke”
http://www.canow.org/canoworg/2009/02/california-officially-broke.html
Wheres Jeff??? I found Jeff!!!!
http://www.citizensvoice.com/articles/2008/11/12/lifestyles/wb_voice.20081110.t.pg27.cv10cdkms_s1.2071620_fea1.txt
Read what California pays some people , and especially people that work in the unemployment Appeals , like 128,000…of course they want to deny benifits…
Sharon Runner is latest ex-lawmaker to land six-figure California post
ShareThisBy Shane Goldmacher
sgoldmacher@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed yet another termed-out lawmaker to a six-figure post in state government, his sixth such appointment in the past three months.
The latest appointee, former GOP Assemblywoman Sharon Runner of Lancaster, will earn $128,109 as a member of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, which meets publicly twice a month.
The Schwarzenegger appointees – whose combined salaries total more than three-quarters of a million dollars annually – have come as the state is battling record-setting deficits topping $40 billion.
Last week, the Legislature adopted a Schwarzenegger-backed budget plan that contained a wide array of tax hikes and spending cuts in education, health and social services.
“It sends a message that the governor isn’t sensitive to the current budget crisis,” said Jessica Levinson of the Center for Governmental Studies of the appointments.
The Schwarzenegger administration defended the ex-lawmakers as all qualified for their jobs.
“(The governor is) always looking for the highest and best qualified individuals for these positions,” said spokeswoman Rachel Cameron.
In her new post on the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, Cameron said Runner could draw on her legislative “experience of bringing people together to address the needs of our state” on the board.
But Runner, widely regarded as one of the most amicable lawmakers during her six years in the state Assembly, never served on either the labor or agriculture committees, according to those panels.
In 2008, Runner revealed she had been diagnosed with a rare lung disease, limited scleroderma, with no known cure. She is on a transplant list waiting for two new lungs. The condition caused her to miss many of the final weeks of the end of last year’s legislative session.
Cameron said the Governor’s Office has “every confidence in her that she’ll be able to fulfill all of her obligations on the board.”
Runner could not be reached for comment Friday.
Levinson said that while few will have “more experience in the internal workings of the state government than former lawmakers … it’s just absolutely not the right time to be appointing people to six-figure positions, which meet 12 to 18 (to 24) times a year.”
It “looks like he’s just giving plum jobs to those who were loyal to him,” she added.
Since December, Schwarzenegger has made the following appointments:
• Former Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, as his new director of Regional Development Initiatives in the Central Valley ($128,124 per year);
• Former Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, R-Stockton, to the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, which pays $128,109 a year.
• Former Republican Assembly members Bonnie Garcia and George Plescia to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. The jobs pay $128,109.
• Former Sen. Carole Migden, a Democrat, to a $132,178 job on the Integrated Waste Management Board.
Four of the appointments were to boards that Schwarzenegger once sought to eliminate, part of his failed plan to “blow up the boxes” of state government.
He once said that “no one paid by the state should make $100,000 a year for only meeting twice a month.”
The Democratic leaders of the Legislature also have gotten into the act of appointing their one-time colleagues.
Former lawmakers Sheila Kuehl of Santa Monica and John Laird of Santa Cruz, both Democrats, got positions on the waste board in December, each pulling in salaries above $132,000 per year.
Kuehl said ex-lawmakers get a bum rap from the public.
“I never quite understood the opinion, ‘Oh, they were legislators. Oh, they don’t know anything about the subject,’ ” she said. “In my experience, legislators know more about these subjects than people who come in from a more narrow perspective.”
Runner already counts the backing of the State Council of Laborers, but opposition to her appointment quickly surfaced Friday.
The United Farm Workers called for the state Senate to reject her appointment, citing a past vote against heat regulations for farmworkers.
Complicating the politics further, Runner’s husband, Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, has been an outspoken critic of state government spending.
He declined to comment on his wife’s new government post Friday.
“Now is the time to live within ours means,” George Runner had said after Schwarzenegger’s State of the State speech last month. “We must adopt a spending limit, hold the taxations of our citizens to a minimum and allow government to provide only the most basic needs.”
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My question is where did all the money go ??? Isnt Unemployment a Federal Juristiction , monitored by the State ???
I know a guy who pulled permits to build a normal home in CA , it costed him 40,000 dollars.
Now i look at all the new homes built in northern california , thousands upon thousands but my question is what did california do with all the money ?
I often say i wish the Federal Government would seriously look at California…
California’s chief financial officer warned Monday that the state would run out of money in about two months as hopes of a Christmas budget compromise melted into political finger-pointing by the end of the day. Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began the day on a cheerful note, suggesting that negotiations with Democratic leaders could lead to a budget deal as early as this week to help close the $42 billion shortfall that is projected through June 2010.Let’s repeat that: $42 billion dollar budget shortfall. That is about 2.5 times the loan just provided to GM and Chrysler. And one wonders if the outcome - begging for a federal bailout - will be the same as with the automakers. As much lobbying power as the automakers have, can any group have more lobbying power than the government itself?
If the Federal government has to step in to help with jobs, payroll and pensions it will be a tall and expensive task. According to the State Controller’s Office, California has 238,816 employees on the payroll. The monthly payroll disbursement in October was $1.595 billion dollars. Simple math tells you that the average payroll check = $1.595 billion / 238,816, or about $80,000 per year for each California state employee. That is the average, indicating many in the state make much more. And the generous state pensions guarantee much of that income is going to be paid for life.
The billion dollar question then is: if California does go broke, will the U.S. taxpayer be on the hook for those salaries and pensions?
Let’s hope not, because the burden is substantial. The Golden State has a leaden problem in payroll, especially as many of the biggest departments in terms of number of workers are those that are related to public costs and tax collection and disbursement. Tax money being used as payroll for those who figure out how to collect and spend more tax money. Circuitious at best, frustrating at worst.
The 11 biggest departments in the State by total number of employees are as follows, listed by number of employees as of October 2008:
Transportation (across 12 districts & administration) 20,675
Higway Patrol 10,805
Motor Vehicles 9,514
State Insurance Fund 8,068
Employment Agency 7,772
Franchise Tax Board 6,484
Forestry & Fire Protection 5,750
Corrections Administration 5,532
Justice 5,222
Parks & Recreation 4,730
Board of Equalization 3,950
In the billions , insanity !
And for those lucky enough to get i wouldnt spend it on lottery , they didng have a good budjet either…California spends money like a drunkin sailor !
Sacramento, CA (FLP) — California Lottery officials, working closely with legislative budget staff, have agreed to indefinitely suspend Lottery payouts to winners.
“The State is running out of money, and it’s only fair that Lottery winners do their part to help shore up our finances”, said Bruce Warner, assistant Lottery Commissioner. “What we’re going to do is continue to run all of the California state lotteries, but we will delay payout of the prizes for a minimum of three years. ”
“This will extend to scratchers, as well. Obviously, a scratcher winning $2 not paying off for three years is not going to be an undue hardship to the winner”, he continued.
Friday, February 06, 2009
California EDD Overwhelmed, Short of Funds As Unemployment Reaches 9.3%
As the unemployment rate in California increased to 9.3% statewide in December 2008, the state agency responsible for administering unemployment benefits, the Economic Development Department (EDD) is overwhelmed. It has a significant case backlog and has drained the unemployment insurance fund.
As reported in the L.A. Times, “the state is paying out $30 million to $34 million a day in benefits. During the week of Jan. 5, its balance fell from about $500 million to $270 million.”
In December, reports the Times, California issued $1.1 billion in assistance checks to 429,000 claimants. Unemployed workers are eligible for payments of as much as $450 a week for up to 59 weeks.
According to the EDD, the UI Fund is projected to be in a deficit of $2.4 billion by the end of 2009. The UI Fund is projected to be in a deficit of $4.9 billion by the end of 2010 if changes are not made to the financing structure. The governor and legislature have been discussing increasing employers’ payroll tax contributions. This of course would not be good news for businesses already hit hard by the recession.
When the fund is depleted, the state will be forced to turn to the federal government for loans.
Meanwhile the EDD is overwhelmed by the volume of claims. “Millions of calls to state unemployment insurance processing centers continue to go unanswered,” reports the L.A. Times. “A 30-year-old computer system is overloaded, and stressed clerks are swamped by backlogged applications.”
The backlog is becoming a crisis, reports the L.A. Times. “Although the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board is supposed to decide within 30 days whether the state wrongly denied an individual’s jobless benefits, less than 4% of complaints are finished by then, the U.S. Department of Labor says.”
In all, a record 68,135 appeals filed by out-of-work people and employers were awaiting action by the board as of Jan. 23.
“California takes longer to resolve unemployment appeals than any other state except Virginia, according to Labor Department data, and the federal government has demanded that the state come up with a plan to fix the mess this month.”
Governor Schwarzenegger’s plan to require state workers to take a two day work furlough each month is expected to exacerbate the problem.
Despite the backlog, employers should continue to promptly review employee claims to determine whether an application should be challenged, and if necessary, an award appealed. An employer has the right to appeal EDD’s decision to pay a claimant. An appeal must be submitted within 20 calendar days of the mailing date of the EDD’s Notice of Determination and/or Ruling.
Submitted by:
Christopher W. Olmsted
Barker Olmsted & Barnier, APLC