ESD now requires you to look for work in order to continue receiving unemployment benefits. So, what is a job search?

OAKLAND, California – As the economy opens, so do more jobs – but more than two million Californians continue to collect unemployment. But now ESD is pushing people back to work.

The Department of Employment Development was known to have put obstacles in obtaining benefits during the pandemic. Now he says workers must also swear they are trying to find a job or will lose their benefits. Is this another roadblock?

Melissa Guttierez of Oakland lost her job as a bartender when businesses closed during the pandemic. But like millions of others, she did not have to look for work to qualify for unemployment during lockdown.

“He asked me if I was able to go and look for work and I put no – because of the shelter in place,” Guttierez said.

All of that is changing now.

“To continue to receive benefits, you must regularly certify that you are able to work and that you are actively looking for work,” says former EDD director Michael Bernick.

He says the unemployed must now try to find a job – although he says the rules are pretty loose. “It’s a boost. It’s an encouragement for people to look for work. It’s a soft requirement.”

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Question 3 of the EDD form simply asks, “Have you looked for work?”

“And you have to certify ‘yes’ to continue receiving benefits, but you don’t need to list the employers you’ve contacted or any other mechanism. So this is largely an honor system. “, explains Bernick.

So, what is a “job search”?

Workers can register with CalJOBS, the state employment service. Or send resumes, interview for a job, even attend a career fair.

The rules are even more flexible for concert workers, self-employed workers and business owners who receive special benefits in the event of a pandemic.

“If you can just honestly say you’re doing things to try to recover or grow your business, that’s enough,” Bernick said.

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He says it’s possible but unlikely for EDD to want to watch you, or for workers to suddenly flood the market.

“Workers are not returning en masse to previous jobs … we hear every day from employers saying, ‘I can’t find any candidates,’ he says.

Bernick says the real boost in finding work will come in September when a $ 300 federal grant expires – and when the kids are back in school. “When the unemployment assistance supplement ends, when schools finally reopen, when daycare centers are no longer available, and when people have had time, frankly, to reconsider, do I want to continue doing what I am doing? did before? “

The job search requirement can give you a head start for these benefits expire in September – and for concert workers and federal independent benefits, fully end on September 4.