L.A. Workforce Systems Collaborative partners -- UNITE-LA, the City of L.A. Economic & Workforce Development Department and Office of Los Angeles City Mayor Eric Garcetti -- worked together to develop outreach materials on how to access traditional unemployment insurance, unemployment assistance for gig-workers, free-lancers, and the self-employed, and California disaster relief assistance for immigrants who otherwise do not qualify for unemployment insurance or federal CARES Act stimulus payments.

L.A. County’s unemployment rate increased from 4.6 percent in February to over 20 percent in April. Yet nearly three months into this economic crisis brought on by COVID-19, many laid off workers have still been unable  to receive assistance because of overwhelmed unemployment office phone lines and confusion around who qualifies. Our flyers provide a list of WorkSource Centers that Angelenos can call to make in-person appointments to get help filing for unemployment benefits. Paper copies of the flyers are also being distributed at City FamilySource Centers, homeless shelters and food banks, especially to help individuals who lack internet access and therefore cannot access these resources online. 

In mid-April, a national survey by the Economic Policy Institute estimated that only about half of the potential workers who were eligible for unemployment insurance were actually receiving benefits. Help us get out the word to your own networks! See our posts on Twitter and Instagram.

For more information on the L.A. Workforce Systems Collaborative, please contact Workforce Development Coordinator, AJ Lucas, at [email protected] and Director of Talent Development, Heddy Nam, at [email protected].