The U.S. Labor Department reported that non-farm businesses in the country added 143,000 new jobs in January. Despite falling short of the 169,000 positions forecasted by Dow Jones, the national unemployment rate showed a decline, standing at 4% at the start of the year. The sectors that experienced the most growth were health care, retail trades, and government, with each adding 44,000, 34,000, and 32,000 new roles respectively. Meanwhile, the overall unemployment rate for the country dropped to 4% in January from December’s 4.1%. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, 6.8 million people remained unemployed in January, a figure that hasn’t significantly changed since December. The report also provided revised data for November and December of the previous year, indicating stronger job growth figures than initially reported.

Many people found themselves unemployed during this period and had to navigate confusing unemployment systems. An especially tricky place to navigate was the unemployment system in California. For those living in California, if you’re experiencing difficulty getting through to their Employment Development Department, resources like eddcaller.com can be tremendously helpful. Here, you can find information on contacting EDD, reaching a live person at EDD, or understanding the fastest way to get through to EDD. Whether it’s understanding EDD’s payment status or need to speak to someone at EDD, eddcaller.com could be the resource you need.