Sung Won Sohn
FILE - In this Nov. 24, 2020, file photo, a waitress serves patrons sitting outdoors for dinner separated by plastic dividers with national flags at Mel's drive-in restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, Calif. California has now regained more than half of the 2.7 million jobs it lost at the start of the pandemic, state officials said Friday, June 17, 2021, a trend driven by restaurants and hotels hiring more people as the state gradually reopens its economy. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
California unemployment rate dips as employers add new jobs

By Adam Beam Jun. 18, 2021 02:50 PM EDT

FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2020 file photo, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell appears before the Senate Banking Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday, June 16, 2021, that it may act sooner than previously planned to start dialing back the low-interest rate policies that have helped fuel a swift rebound from the pandemic recession but have also coincided with rising inflation. The Fed's policymakers forecast that they would raise their benchmark short-term rate, which influences many consumer and business loans, twice by late 2023. They had previously estimated that no rate hike would occur before 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool, File)
Fed sees earlier time frame for rate hikes with inflation up

By Christopher Rugaber Jun. 16, 2021 02:07 PM EDT

FILE - In this May 14, 2021, file photo, a worker wears a mask while prepares desserts at the Universal City Walk in Universal City, Calif. California has continued its slow but steady economic recovery in April. New employment numbers released Friday, May 21, 2021, show California added more than 100,000 jobs for the third consecutive month. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
California has regained nearly half of jobs lost in pandemic

By Adam Beam May. 21, 2021 03:41 PM EDT

FILE - This Tuesday, March 16, 2021, file photo shows a sign advertising a restaurant opening, in Santa Monica, Calif. California has added 119.600 new jobs in March. It's the second straight month of growth following a year of enormous losses and inconsistent gains during the pandemic. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
Signs of recovery as California adds jobs for 2nd month

By Adam Beam Apr. 16, 2021 02:04 PM EDT

FILE - In this March 4, 2021, file photo, a sign reading "Welcome Back Now Open" is posted on the window of a Morton's Steakhouse restaurant as a man works inside during the coronavirus pandemic in San Francisco. California added 141,000 jobs in February as more than a quarter of a million people returned to the workforce. The California Employment Development Department said Friday, March 26, that the state's unemployment rate in February was 8.5%, down from 9% in January. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
Hopeful signs as California adds 141,000 jobs in February

By Adam Beam Mar. 26, 2021 01:56 PM EDT

FILE - In this March 4, 2021, file photo, a sign reading "Welcome Back Now Open" is posted on the window of a Morton's Steakhouse restaurant as a man works inside during the coronavirus pandemic in San Francisco. California lost close to 70,000 jobs in January. But new numbers released Friday, March 12, 2021, by the state's Employment Development Department show the unemployment rate declined slightly to 9%. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
California still losing jobs, but recovery likely coming

By Adam Beam Mar. 12, 2021 10:43 PM EST

FILE - A woman carries a shopping bag while walking past a cosmetics store, right, near Faneuil Hall, behind left, Monday, Sept. 28, 2020, in Boston. The U.S. economy expanded at a 33.4% annual pace from July through September, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020 delivering the last of three estimates on the economy’s third-quarter performance. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, file)
Anticipating 2021 boom, Q4 GDP revised up slightly to 4.1%

By Martin Crutsinger Feb. 25, 2021 08:42 AM EST

FILE - This Monday, Dec. 21, 2020, file photo shows a line of empty chairs bearing the names of workers who have lost their jobs during the pandemic, outside Crumbs restaurant in Danville, Calif. California's unemployment rate edged up nearly 1 percentage point last month as the state shed more than 52,000 jobs led by the pandemic-hobbled restaurant and lodging industries, the state's beleaguered Employment Development Department reported Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Liedtke,File)
California jobless rate edges up amid 52,000 lost jobs

By Don Thompson Jan. 22, 2021 08:17 PM EST

FILE - In this May 6, 2020, file photo, Brandon Earl, right, helps David Lenus, a job seeker, fill out an application at a drive up job fair for Allied Universal during the coronavirus pandemic, in Gardena, Calif. Coronavirus restrictions in California have put millions of people out of work, increasing the state's unemployment rate earlier this year to levels not seen since the Great Depression. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)
More people stop seeking work in California as virus surges

By Adam Beam Dec. 18, 2020 02:24 PM EST

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell testifies during a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Thursday Sept. 24, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington about the CARES Act and the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. (Drew Angerer/Pool via AP)
Fed confronts a shaky US economy that likely needs more help

By Martin Crutsinger Nov. 04, 2020 01:01 PM EST

FILE - In this May 7, 2020, file photo, a man wearing a mask walks under a Now Hiring sign at a CVS Pharmacy during the coronavirus outbreak in San Francisco. California has regained more than a third of the 2.6 million nonfarm jobs the most populous state lost to the coronavirus pandemic in March and April. State officials reported Friday, Oct. 16, 2020, that the leisure and hospitality sector accounted for half the overall gain of 96,000 jobs as restaurants, hotels and other hospitality businesses benefitted from the state's easing of restrictions designed to slow the virus' spread. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
California jobless rate dips as jobs added despite pandemic

By Don Thompson Oct. 16, 2020 07:37 PM EDT

FILE - In this June 30, 2020 file photo, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the coronavirus response on Capitol Hill in Washington. U.S. consumers lifted their spending in May and June but businesses remained cautious because of the tremendous uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook, Federal Reserve officials said at a policy meeting last month. The nascent economic recovery faces several risks, Fed officials said in discussions during their most recent meeting on July 28-29. (Tasos Katopodis/Pool via AP)
Powell edges toward loosening the Fed's stance on inflation

By Martin Crutsinger Aug. 26, 2020 11:03 AM EDT

FILE - In this May 7, 2020, file photo, a flier reads "Workers Available" at the Pasadena Community Job Center during the coronavirus pandemic in Pasadena, Calif. California added more than 140,000 jobs in July and lowered its unemployment rate to 13.3%. But the unemployment rate is still higher than it ever was during the Great Recession a decade ago. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
California's jobless rate improves; economy still struggling

By Adam Beam Aug. 21, 2020 01:01 PM EDT

FILE - In this July 13, 2020 file photo, a For Rent sign hangs on a closed shop during the coronavirus pandemic in Miami Beach, Fla. Having endured what was surely a record-shattering slump last quarter, the U.S. economy faces a dim outlook as a resurgent coronavirus intensifies doubts about the likelihood of any sustained recovery the rest of the year. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
US is expected to report a record-breaking economic plunge

By Martin Crutsinger Jul. 29, 2020 11:50 AM EDT

A person walks past a row of closed businesses, Wednesday, April 29, 2020, in Upper Darby, Pa. Devastated by the coronavirus, the U.S. economy is sinking. Now, as some businesses in a few states start to trickle back to work, hopes are beginning to arise that the economy, damaged as it is, might be poised to rebound by the second half of the year. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
US GDP fell at 5.0% rate in Q1; worse is likely on the way

By Martin Crutsinger Jun. 25, 2020 08:43 AM EDT

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, wears a face mask as he answers a reporter's question during his visit to the Queen Sheba Ethiopian Cuisine restaurant, in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, June 19, 2020. Newsom visited the restaurant that is participating in the Great Plates Delivered program that provides meals to older adults who are at-risk to COVID-19. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, Pool)
California jobless rate 16.3% in May, down a bit from April

By Adam Beam Jun. 19, 2020 11:29 AM EDT

President Donald Trump speaks as he signs the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act during a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, June 5, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Citing jobs, Trump claims victory over virus, econ collapse

By Steve Peoples, Zeke Miller And Josh Boak Jun. 05, 2020 11:10 AM EDT

FILE - In this July 22, 2019 photo, trucks hauling shipping containers wait to unload at the Port of Oakland in Oakland, Calif. The Commerce Department issues its second estimate of how the U.S. economy performed in the first quarter of 2020 on Thursday, May 28, 2020.(AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)
US economy shrank at 5% annual rate in Q1

By Martin Crutsinger May. 28, 2020 09:47 AM EDT

Mia Foster poses in her home office in Elk Grove, Calif., Friday, May 22, 2020. Foster, 37, was furloughed from her job providing IT services to health clinics on March 25, and waited five weeks to receive her unemployment benefits. California's unemployment rate nearly tripled to 15.5% in April because of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
California's April jobless rate higher than Great Recession

By Adam Beam May. 22, 2020 11:02 AM EDT

Food is loaded onto vehicles last a food distribution center Friday, April 17, 2020, in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles. Food banks in the state have seen a spike in numbers as the state's unemployment level has jumped to to 5.3% for the month of March. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
California's unemployment rate soars, but worst yet to come

By Adam Beam And Jocelyn Gecker Apr. 17, 2020 12:42 PM EDT