California’s winter COVID-19 surge took a grim toll on jobs as the state’s recovery lagged compared with the nation’s overall, according to recalculated state data published Friday.
The Golden State‘s economy may now be poised to turn a corner thanks to accelerating vaccinations, a loosening of restrictions on businesses and schools, and massive federal aid, but steep labor losses have delayed recovery: In December and January, the state shed 145,300 payroll jobs, according to a report from the Employment Development Department.
“As it turns out, the labor market fallout in 2020 was significantly worse than original estimates suggested,” said Taner Osman, research manager at Beacon Economics in Los Angeles. “While we expect a strong recovery in 2021, it would take an unprecedented hiring surge to regain the lost jobs, as well as the jobs we would have added during normal times.”
The losses in December and January reversed the autumn’s upward trend when businesses had begun to reopen and bring back workers, only to be shut down again as the virus spread out of control.
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