SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The major stock indices capped off a week-long rally with their best day yet on Friday thanks to the news that national unemployment was 13.3%. In any other time, this would be panic-worthy news to most investors. Unemployment during the Great Recession that began in 2008 only ever reached a high of 10%.
But in the new Coronavirus world, Wall Street loved Friday’s announcement because the number was down from more than 14% the month before. Most analysts had expected unemployment to rise.
California's state unemployment rate won’t be released for another two weeks, leaving us to wonder in the meantime. But the state government is bracing for unemployment rates as high as 25% because of COVID.
A new poll from the Public Policy Institute of California gives us reason to think that dire prediction has a shot at proving true.
The poll released Wednesday said 35% of Californians said they’d been laid off or lost a job because of the pandemic. Additionally, 51% reported having their pay or their hours cuts.
Californians don’t seem overly optimistic about the future with COVID-19.
The viral disease ranked as issue No. 1 in the survey, named by 36%.
Despite those unemployment numbers, jobs and the economy only ranked as the second most important issue with 23%. This could be an indicator that most people expect to be able to return to their jobs (or find new ones with relative ease) once the pandemic is behind us.
Californians do worry about how that's going, saying by a 20-point margin (58% say we're opening too quickly, and 38% say too slowly) that they're worried states will reopen too quickly as opposed to too slowly.
They appear more comfortable with how restrictions are going at home, with 46% saying they like the current level of restrictions where they live. The rest were split over whether they wanted less (28%) or more (25%) restrictions in place.
The poll was nearly dead even on whether the worst of the pandemic is already behind us, or still yet to come.
Follow the conversation on Facebook with Brandon Rittiman.
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