Thread: 100 BUSINESSES MOVING OUT OF CALIFORNIA

California job losses grow

California unemployment increases to 12.5 percent


StoryBy CATHY BUSSEWITZ |

Posted: March 5, 2010 3:38 pm

California's unemployment rate grew slightly to 12.5 percent in January, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday. But the state also revised its December job numbers to show that about 300,000 additional jobs were lost that month.

The state's unemployment rate in December was 12.3 percent. Officials had previously reported December's unemployment rate at 12.4 percent, but revised that figure Friday.

Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent.

"There are real people behind these statistics and they deserve real action by their elected officials," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement, urging the Legislature to pass his job-creation proposal.

Despite the increase in unemployment in January, the state added 32,500 jobs. The construction industry saw the largest increase with an additional 16,200 jobs.

The information, financial activities, and professional and business services industries were the only ones that lost jobs.

"It is a sign that the sector worst hurt by this recession, the construction industry, may finally be growing again," said Jed Kolko, associate director at the Public Policy Institute of California. "The increase in employment that we see now is consistent with the slow increase in housing prices in California that has been recently reported."

But those positive numbers should be read with caution, one economist said, because the state significantly revised the number of jobs that were lost in December. California had 13.8 million jobs in December, revised from the 14.1 million that was previously reported. That means the state had 300,000 fewer jobs in December than it previously thought.

"The recession was a lot deeper in 2009 than the previous data had reported," said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.

He added that the downward revisions of job estimates throughout 2009 explain the state's high unemployment numbers.

Even so, Levy remains optimistic.

"I do think that we are at the beginning of a recovery," Levy said. "But it shows ... that we're starting at a lower point than we previously thought. So we have farther to dig out."

http://www.nctimes.com/news/state-and-r ... b8bd3.html

EMPLOYMENT: Jobless rates rise in San Diego and Riverside counties

Seasonal employment losses contribute to January figures


By JEFF ROWE - jrowe@nctimes.com |
Posted: March 10, 2010 3:42 pm
The jobless rate in January rose to 11 percent in San Diego County and 15 percent in the Riverside-San Bernardino county region as holiday season jobs ended and most other job categories fell, the state Employment Development Department said Wednesday.

The unemployment rate in San Diego County was 10.3 percent in December and 8.4 percent in January a year ago. In Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the jobless rate was 14.1 in December and 11.5 percent in January 2009.

Trade, transportation and utilities lost 4,700 jobs in January in San Diego County. Hotels, food services and entertainment and refreshment businesses cut 4,000 jobs, the EDD said.

Trade, transportation and utility employment also fell in Riverside and San Bernardino counties ---- 7,700 jobs were lost, the EDD said.

For the year, the education and health services category in both counties was the only one of 12 categories to post gains.

"I'm pessimistic," said Mason Gaffney, an economics professor at UC Riverside.

"We have lived on borrowed money ---- so has the whole country, but we (in Riverside County) more than others," he said. "What we called prosperity for the last 10 years was a bubble."

Gaffney said "basic tax reforms" such as lowering the payroll tax and finding other sources of revenue are needed to get the regional economy moving again.

Dan Seiver, finance professor at San Diego State University, said the January EDD numbers were "not good," but nonetheless he was a bit more upbeat.

"California is still lagging the rest of the country, but I see a turnaround at the national level, and I think we will feel that in California and San Diego County by fall," he said. "The economy is moving forward. Businesses have cut payrolls enormously and will start hiring later this year."

Federal data released last week showed California's jobless rate was 12.5 percent in January; the national rate was 9.7 percent.

At 10.8 percent, the West had the highest regional unemployment rate, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which ranked California's jobless rate fifth highest in the nation.

Michigan led the nation in January with an unemployment rate of 14.3 percent, followed by Nevada and Rhode Island.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Call staff writer Jeff Rowe at 760-740-5417 760-740-5417.

Jobless in SD and Riverside-San Bernardino counties: The numbers

January unemployment rate:

San Diego County: 11 percent

Riverside-San Bernardino counties: 15 percent (15.1 percent for Riverside County alone)

Biggest monthly declines:

Trade, transportation and utilities: Down 4,700 jobs in San Diego County; down 7,700 in Riverside-SB

Retail trade: Down 4,300 in SD County; 6,100 in Riverside-SB

Year-over-year declines:

Trade, transportation and utilities: Down 10,100 in SD County; down 16,700 in Riverside-SB.

Professional and business services: Down 10,500 in SD County

Construction: Down 15,500 in Riverside-SB

Year-over-year job gains:

Education and health services: Up 2,300 in SD County; up 500 in Riverside-SB


http://www.nctimes.com/business/article ... dd200.html

Alex said on: March 10, 2010, 5:13 pm

For Hussein Obama, it's more urgent to pass a monolithic, wasteful and costly healthcare program than to seriously address this catastrophic unemployment issue. Oh well, I guess it's ok to be hungry and homeless, as long as you have that good ol' American healthcare coverage. Then again, we'll definitely need it to treat the future millions suffering from the effects of starvation and malnutrition. Hooray for the messiah! Hope and change, hope and change, hope and change...

BigBadJohn said on: March 10, 2010, 1:53 pm

I can get $450 a week (forever) plus healthcare benefits plus food stamps plus other goodies, why look for a job?