Breed: 60K San Franciscans have filed for unemployment, 40K more expected

A job seeker looks at a job listing board at the East Bay Career Center February 2, 2006 in Oakland, California. A job seeker looks at a job listing board at the East Bay Career Center February 2, 2006 in Oakland, California. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Image 1 of / 55 Caption Close Breed: 60K San Franciscans have filed for unemployment, 40K more expected 1 / 55 Back to Gallery

Sixty thousand San Franciscans have filed for unemployment in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak in San Francisco, Mayor London Breed announced in a press conference Wednesday.

The city expects an additional 40,000 people to file for unemployment in the coming weeks as the shelter-in-place continues, Breed added.

Following the city’s stay-at-home mandate, issued in mid-March, companies across industries laid off thousands of workers. Restaurants and bars have released entire staffs as they attempt to adapt to a change in business model; local media publications have furloughed journalists; and tech giants have cut double-digit percentages of workers. It's worse than during the 2008-2009 recession, when 45,000 San Franciscans filed for unemployment.

The picture is bleak across the state. A total of 3.4 million Californians have filed for unemployment, according to statistics released by the state on Thursday. Half of L.A. alone — some 1.3 million people — is reportedly out of work.

While the state tries to meet growing demand for unemployment resources (to the frustration of many), San Francisco is attempting to prepare for what comes next.

“We want to make sure we are thinking about what happens after we start to get back to our daily lives,” Breed said Wednesday. “What happens with our restaurants, what happens with our conventions and tourism? What happens with our hospitals and hotels? What happens with job opportunities that may no longer be available, and what industries will become increasingly available as a result of this pandemic? How do we repurpose our educational institutes and other resources we have available to fit the needs of what is our new normal?”

MORE: CA Self-employed, independent contractors can collect unemployment starting April 28

The city is now in the process of allocating money from its initial $10.5 million fund to non-profits and small businesses, but it won’t be enough to sustain employment for the duration of the pandemic.

“This is just the first round of funding, and we’ll keep working to get additional support into the hands of those who need it most,” Breed said.

Next is a task force, focused on recovering local businesses and employment, made up of Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee, Assessor-Recorder Carmen Chu, Treasurer José Cisneros, Rodney Fong, President and CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and Rudy Gonzalez, Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council, a press release said. The plans for the task force include a six-pronged approach for supporting small and medium-sized businesses and arts and culture organizations, and for connecting unemployed residents to job opportunities in the short-term.

“The public health crisis is far from over but we already know the economic toll has been devastating,” said Chu. “I’ve seen our city recover through the Dot Com bust and the Great Recession but this is at a scale most of us haven’t seen before. It’s frightening. That’s why we all need to roll up our sleeves now to help our workers and our families get back up on their feet.”

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:

Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGate digital editor. Email: alyssa.pereira@sfgate.com | Twitter: @alyspereira

