April 17, 2020 - On the heels of the COVID-19 crisis, Joint Venture's Institute for Regional Studies has released preliminary analysis that shows an uptick in the unemployment rate to 3.1% - a sharp increase but significantly lower than the recession-peak of 10.5% in the summer of 2009. The report follows the release of preliminary March 2020 labor market data (which has a lag time of several weeks) from the California Employment Development Department (EDD).