Unemployment claims in California jumped last week to their highest levels since the state’s much-touted reopening of an economy that has been enfeebled by coronavirus-linked ailments for well over a year.

The jobless claims that were filed last week in California were numerous enough that they accounted for a jaw-dropping one out of every five unemployment filings nationwide.

California workers filed 67,400 initial claims for unemployment during the week that ended on July 24, an increase of 10,900 from the 56,500 jobless claims that were filed over the week ending on July 17, the U.S, Labor Department reported Thursday.

Nationwide, unemployment claims 400,000 and fell by 24,000 for the week ending July 24, the Labor Department disclosed. These numbers were adjusted for seasonal variations.

Using comparable numbers for both the U.S. and the state that weren’t adjusted for seasonal volatility, the 67,400 jobless in California filings equated to 19.6% of all the unemployment claims that were filed in the United States last week.

Even worse, the number of jobless claims that were filed in California in the most recent week was a shocking 50% higher than typical weekly numbers for a relatively healthy statewide economy.

During January and February 2020, the final two months before state and local government officials locked down the California economy to combat the spread of the coronavirus, unemployment claims averaged 44,800 a week.

California reopened its economy on June 15, but the statewide unemployment filings have shown virtually no improvement since then, this news organization’s analysis of the weekly claims shows.