SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A review of California's unemployment agency has found its productivity level declined despite hiring hundreds of new workers.
The Employment Development Department has been overwhelmed by millions of claims for unemployment benefits during the coronavirus pandemic.
About 1.6 million people are still waiting for their claims to be processed.
The review detailed the problems plaguing the agency, including relying on a manual review of claims that slowed down the approval process without stopping fraud.
The agency announced a two-week reset to implement changes to speed up claims. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the reset will make this process better.
