Day one of state unemployment payments that included an extra $600 a week to cover job losses spawned by the coronavirus was accompanied by a head-spinning price tag: $336 million in payouts.

Starting on Sunday, the state’s Employment Development Department began sending out unemployment payments that consisted of the regular state distribution plus an extra $600 financed by the federal government to help soften the economic battering caused by the coronavirus.

“In total, $335.9 million was distributed Sunday, April 12,” the EDD said in an email to this news organization.

All told, about 224,200 checks that included the extra federal money were distributed on Sunday, according to the latest numbers released Monday evening by the state EDD.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has estimated that from approximately March 12 through about April 7, roughly 2.3 million people had filed for unemployment benefits.

That’s roughly 10 times as many people who are receiving the first day of payments. That also means it could cost somewhere around $3 billion to provide payments for just the 2 million-plus who have lost their jobs in recent weeks.

To put that $336 million in further perspective, over the first two months of 2020, the state EDD paid out an average of $15.1 million per day.

When added to the maximum state payment of $450 a week, a $600 additional amount would equate to a weekly benefit of $1,050. Since the state EDD sends out payments for two weeks of unemployment benefits, that means the maximum check would be $2,100 every two weeks.

The average state benefit is $340 a week, so an extra $600 would be an enhanced benefit of $940 a week, or $1,880 for a payment that covers two weeks.

Of the 224,200 who received payments on the first day, 173,400 have received or will receive their payments through a direct deposit, the EDD said. Another 50,800 will receive a debit card or a check in the mail.

Gov. Newsom vowed on Monday that the first payments represented only the beginning of the number of checks that will be issued to California residents who are reeling from lost jobs.

“Hundreds of thousands, millions more will go out as quickly as humanly possible,” Newsom said.

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