Unemployed California workers will get an extra $600 per week. Here’s how to sign up
Unemployed California workers who qualify for jobless benefits will get an extra $600 per week starting Sunday.
The money will be added to the regular state benefit, which can be as high as $450 per week. The additional benefit will be available through the end of July, and will be automatically added to the state amount.
The extra funding, announced Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, is part of the federal government’s $2.2 trillion economic aid plan, designed to ease the economic pain caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
California, like most of the rest of the country, is experiencing enormous increases in unemployment. In the last three weeks, 2.3 million people in the state have sought benefits for the first time, including 925,000 last week — a 2,418 percent increase over the same period last year.
The state’s Employment Development Department, which manages the program, estimates that waits for receiving benefits should take about three weeks. The biggest problem claimants are having is simply getting through to the department.
Consumers have reported phone lines, which are manned four hours a day, are routinely busy, and online responses have come slowly.
Department spokeswoman Loree Levy offered this advice: “Most people do not need to call to get (an unemployment) claim going. Going to our (unemployment) online system that we have listed on our Coronavirus webpage is by far the best option to help us get claims processed as fast as possible, and it can be done through a mobile phone not just a computer.”
She said that applying on paper “will slow down the processing so it’s really important for people to know that.”
The department website has a variety of links to help answer questions and file a claim.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Unemployed California workers will get an extra $600 per week. Here’s how to sign up."
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