Re-employment, Recall, and Industry Transitions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This policy brief provides new insights about how many previously unemployed Californians have found employment and the extent to which workers have been transferring into new industries during the pandemic. To help assess the current state of the economy, the report tracks the number of Californians entering the Unemployment Insurance (UI) system—both those filing claims for the first time ("new initial claims") and those who are re-opening old claims after having returned to work ("additional claims")—and the total stock of claimants receiving UI benefits. This brief is based on California Unemployment Insurance claims data from before the pandemic began through October 16th, 2021. The first part of this policy brief focuses on initial claims for UI benefits from claimants residing in California, including Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims, the federal program that expanded eligibility for people who do not qualify for regular UI benefits. We also analyze the number of continuing claims being paid to Californians each week and discuss how both these measures have changed since the expiration of federal pandemic UI programs in September 2021. The second part focuses on the rate at which UI claimants were either recalled to their prior employers or found employment with new companies a year after they first filed for unemployment. The report also includes a new analysis of how workers have reallocated across industries in California and sheds some light on how the California economy is changing in response to the pandemic.