California Policy Lab August 2020 Newsletter

Welcome new CPL staff!

Please join us in welcoming our new colleagues! From left to right:
Elise Dizon-Ross, Post-doctoral Scholar, UC Berkeley
Colin Caprara, Data Analyst, UCLA
Alex Bell, Post-doctoral Scholar, UCLA
Molly Moran, Data Scientist, UCLA
Wahid Khan, Data Analyst, UCLA

Please take a look at these open positions with CPL’s UCLA team, share with your networks, and reach out to careers@capolicylab.org with any questions.

Research Manager, Employment and Labor Issues

Research Associate, Homelessness

Data Analyst focused on labor

Post-doctoral Scholar focused on homelessness and housing

Jesse Rothstein presents: COVID-19’s impact on California’s workers and economy during Rep. Mark DeSaulnier’s town hall

Jesse Rothstein, faculty director at CPL’s UC Berkeley site, shared insights from CPL’s research on unemployment claims in California and discussed recent proposals to extend the $600 federal unemployment benefit that expired.

Unemployment in California: CPL reports and analysis on options to address the crisis

In CPL’s latest Unemployment Insurance Policy Brief, the authors found that more than half of initial claims for Unemployment Insurance in July were from California workers who were “re-opening” claims they had filed previously during the COVID-19 pandemic. This new method of breaking out claims was covered by CNBC, the Washington Post, Sacramento Bee, NBC, KCRW, and more.

CPL also released a Data Point focused on the extra $600 federal benefit that had injected more than $35 billion into the state’s economy as of mid-July.

A new Policy Analysis focuses on several options for California to increase the “earnings disregard” threshold for partial unemployment. Increasing this threshold would allow more people to work part-time and still receive partial unemployment benefits, and would also increase the benefit amounts for people currently receiving partial unemployment. Economically vulnerable demographic groups, including younger, less educated, female, and Hispanic claimants would disproportionately benefit from increasing the threshold.

Providing alternatives to prosecution: San Francisco’s Collaborative Courts and Pretrial Diversion

San Francisco is unique for offering diversion programs to individuals with more complex needs, including people with longer criminal histories and those charged with felonies. A new CPL report examines referral, enrollment, and completion rates for about 16,000 people who were referred to seven diversion programs in San Francisco between 2008 and 2018.

Using new data sources to better measure the rapid changes to the labor market

Last month, Jesse Rothstein presented a new working paper at the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity conference based on a joint research project focused on measuring the impact of COVID-19 on workers using hourly time card data. Rothstein is part of a team of researchers from the California Policy Lab, the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at Chicago Booth, and the University of Chicago Poverty Lab. They have posted frequent updates to measure how the impact is spreading across the country, geographically and by industry, and how it evolves in response to state and local social distancing guidelines and orders.

Linking county data to improve care for high utilizers in Sonoma County

A new CPL report provides an in-depth look at “high utilizers” in Sonoma County who represent approximately 1% of the county population, but account for an average of 26% of jail time, 28% of annual costs for behavioral health services, and 52% of nights in housing or shelters provided to the homeless. Evan White, executive director at CPL’s UC Berkeley site and a co-author of the report, discussed the report findings during an interview with KSRO.

For 20th straight week, more than 1 million Americans filed jobless claims even as enhanced benefits expired

This article cites CPL’s most recent Unemployment Insurance Policy Brief focused on the number of Californians who are re-opening their unemployment claims and the extent to which recall expectation rates are dropping as the COVID-19 crisis continues.

Study: Small group of Sonoma County residents use $162 million in social services annually

This article focuses on how CPL’s new analysis can inform the county’s efforts to better coordinate care.

Nearly 1 in 3 California workers have filed for unemployment since pandemic began

This article cites CPL’s most recent Unemployment Insurance Policy Brief and the extent to which recall expectation rates are dropping as the COVID-19 crisis continues.

Why jobless payments serve the public good: Q and A with economist Till von Wachter

Till von Wachter explains how Unemployment Insurance was designed to temporarily support impacted workers while also stimulating the broader economy when support is needed the most.

What’s criminal about the criminal justice system

In this podcast interview, Johanna Lacoe, research director at CPL’s UC Berkeley site, speaks about criminal justice reform, CPL’s work with government partners, and how she originally got interested in policy research.

U.S. economy gains 1.8 million jobs as recovery loses momentum

Till von Wachter explains that women, younger workers, lower educated workers, Black workers, and Hispanic workers are the most impacted by “repeat layoffs” and that these workers will face acute financial crises because of Congress allowing the extra $600 federal benefit to expire without a replacement.

What California’s unemployment numbers tell us about the COVID depression

CPL’s newest method of measuring “additional claims” in California is the focus of this article about the national economic situation. 

Extra $600 unemployment payments are ending — will they ever return? Here’s what we know

Jesse Rothstein explains the difficulty that state unemployment offices will have in implementing any changes to the extra $600 federal benefit.