The Employment Development Department announced Monday that they have resumed accepting new unemployment claims. This comes two weeks after putting the program on pause to update their technology. 23ABC's Bayan Wang has the details.
The Employment Development Department's so-called "reset" initiative launched back on September 19th, halting all new unemployment claims. According to the EDD, the purpose was to update their insufficient system which was unable to handle any new claims while dealing with upwards of 600,000 backlogged claims.
More than 1 million workers who started getting benefits were cut off for various reasons.
The EDD said fraud played a huge factor causing interruptions to their services and extending process times for pending claims.
The reset period which ended Monday addressed that as well. New unemployment claims are now being accepted but with a new and more reliable verification process through the website ID-me.
As the state is fortifying its EDD process, Danette Thompson, the marketing director for America's Job Center of Kern said there are plenty of jobs available in Kern County.
"It's not slowed down much during this COVID time. Maybe for the first 2 or 3 weeks, it did, but as soon as everyone got their ground, they figured out that there are a lot of employers that are looking to hire essential workers."
Thompson said her organization can provide job seekers with several resources and connect them with employers that are looking to hire. The sooner residents connect with America's Job Centers of Kern the better chance they'll have at getting hired.
"If you start sooner, you'll have more opportunities. Once people start flooding the market again, you have more competition. It's an opportunity for you to get prepared now," explained Thompson.
If your interested in receiving assistance from that organization you can head to there website America's Job Center of Kern.
As for the EDD, their goal is to get their unemployment backlog cleared up by January of 2021.
