In an effort to strengthen the delivery of critical Unemployment Insurance (UI) services to workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Employment Development Department (EDD) will hire approximately 1,800 new temporary, full-time and hourly staff throughout California.
The effort is being conducted over the next few weeks in partnership with the California Department of Human Resources, California Highway Patrol, and the California Correctional Health Care Services department, which are assisting in the screening and interviewing of applicants. The workers will be trained in skills such as call center operations, processing UI claims, and analyzing documents from claimants and employers to make wage determinations for benefits.
“This urgent hiring effort will further enhance the Department’s ability to process an unprecedented surge of benefit claims, while offering an opportunity for employment to Californians during this difficult time,” EDD Director Sharon Hilliard said in a statement.
The EDD receives federal funding to administer the UI program in California base on workload. They are currently receiving increased funding to support the staffing needed to keep up with the historic demand for unemployment benefits, after the surge from record high unemployment rates impacted by COVID-19.
The hiring is being done in addition to a concentrated processing push that was completed throughout Memorial Day weekend by nearly 700 volunteer UI and redirected staff. The hiring focused on paper claims as well as those where the identity of the claimant could not be verified in their data matching system. Those claims cannot be processed and require extra time for staff handling.
As of May 16, the EDD has processed more than 5.1 million claims for unemployment benefits and has paid more than $16.1 billion in benefits to workers in need since the beginning of the pandemic.
The new hires will join some 1,200 current trained EDD staff involved in processing Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims, as well as more than 1,300 staff who have been redirected throughout the EDD and state government. There are also approximately 500 temporary vendor staff who are currently helping to expand capacity to serve customers until state hires can be made. Additionally, some vendors are assisting the EDD with optimizing call center operations to better serve customers.
Teleworking options are available in addition to office locations throughout the state.
The available positions include employment program representative, office technician, and financial services jobs including tax auditor, Accountant Specialist, Accounting Technician, and Accounting Officer.
Applicants who possess bilingual skills including Spanish, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Mandarin are encouraged to apply.
Application packages can be submitted electronically through https://www.calcareers.ca.gov/. For further instructions on how to apply for Unemployment Insurance of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance visit the Unemployment Benefits Guide.
For further information on job requirements and how to apply, click here.
