California’s steady economic recovery, unemployment fraud and backlog

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – California extended its slow but steady economic recovery in April. New employment numbers released Friday show the state added more than 100,000 jobs for the third consecutive month.

California has now regained nearly half of the 2.7 million jobs lost at the beginning of the pandemic and accounted for 38% of all new jobs in the U.S. in April.

Real Clear Politics national political correspondent Susan Crabtree recently wrote an article, “CA Unemployment Fraud, Backlog Still Dog Newsom,” about how many Californians are still waiting for the unemployment checks they had been promised during the height of the pandemic.

Crabtree reported, that at the same time, “fraudsters have made off with an estimated $200 billion in state and federal unemployment funds during the pandemic, according to some congressional estimates.”

A January audit found the California Employment Development Department has likely paid $10.4 billion in fraudulent benefits from March to December.

Crabtree joined Good Morning San Diego to discuss her article and continue the discussion of unemployment fraud in California.