Californian unemployment recipients will have to start looking for work again

The announcement was made on Thursday that things would be going back to the way they were before the pandemic. The state government had previously waived the requirement temporarily back in Mar. 2020.

"Claimants for unemployment benefits must start job hunting July 11 so they can attest that they are doing so when certifying their eligibility a week later with the state Employment Development Department, the agency announced Thursday," wrote the LA Times.

The state also lifted many of the previous lockdown rules that were in place recently. However, it appears that many businesses such as restaurants are having trouble filling vacancies, which perhaps might be the rationale behind lifting the waiver to people receiving unemployment benefits not having to look for work.

California State Assembly member Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach) stated:

"If we continue to have an employment rate that’s [higher than] the national average and don’t have enough people in the workforce, this recovery could go south very fast."

"As we emerge from this pandemic, it is critical to get Californians back to work so we can get our economy firing."

Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) another member of the Assembly, commented in a similar vein:

"Our state’s anemic reopening over the last several months meant that many people couldn’t go back to work."

"Now that Gov. Newsom has decided we can all return to life as normal, it seems appropriate to reinstate the requirement to look for work."

The state faced at one point in 2020 an unprecedented 22 and a half million claims for unemployment benefits, as the economy shut down in large part due to the lockdown restrictions.