By George Avalos at The Mercury News

Unemployment claims are rising again in California, increasing for two weeks in a row and ending a long stretch of improvement, an unsettling indicator that the statewide economy has yet to heal from the effects of the coronavirus.

Since business shutdowns imposed by state and local government officials began in mid-March, a stunning 8.13 million California workers have filed initial claims for unemployment benefits, reports filed by the U.S. Labor Department show.

The worsening unemployment situation in California is severe enough that the Golden State last week accounted for a jaw-dropping 27 percent of all the claims that were filed nationwide during the week that ended on Aug. 29.

Initial jobless claims filed last week by California workers totaled 236,900, up 40,000 from the prior week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Nationwide, the number of unemployment claims decreased sharply, totaling 881,000 during the week ending on Aug. 29, and falling 130,000 from the prior week.

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