SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Despite claims of manipulating unemployment statistics, california's employment development department said it did its job correctly, and charges that it may have, are false.
Following yesterday's weekly national jobless claims report, which came in at 339,000, lower than expected, charges were published in a news article by website, "Business Insider," that said, California didn't process all its claims, therefore lowering the national total. The article said an analyst from the U.S. Department of Labor said that happens when employment agencies are understaffed.
A spokesperson for the state said that California's Employment Development Department did process all of its unemployment insurance claims and submit them on time to the U.S. Department of Labor and the charges by "Business Insider," are false.
EDD said data is often manipulated for political purposes, especially during an election year, and that could have been the case this time.
Loree Levy said, "We are not short staffed here. We are not back-logged on claims. There are no claim loads sitting here waiting to be processed. We are up to date on those things, so again, it's very sad that I think something was made out of someone saying "maybe" and that's just not the case."
California's EDD says while the unemployment insurance number is lower than expected, data really can't be analyzed on a week to week basis-- that it really needs to be viewed as an overall trend.
And if you look at the trend, EDD says, overall in california, unemployment insurance claim activity is declining, the unemployment rate is going down and the jobs numbers are going up.
Numbers could also be lower since tens of thousands of people who once claimed unemployment benefits, no longer even file anymore. They have given up.
"Business Insider" could not be reached for comment.
