California unemployment rate hits 11.9 percent
California unemployment rate hits 11.9 percent
By SUDHIN THANAWALA, The Associated Press
12:03 p.m. August 21, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — California's unemployment rate climbed to 11.9 percent in July, the highest number in modern record-keeping.
That's an increase from 11.6 percent in June and significantly higher than the jobless rate of 7.3 percent a year ago, state officials said Friday.
The Employment Development Department said California lost 35,800 jobs last month but noted it was the lowest monthly job loss total since August 2008. The state shed 66,100 jobs in June.
Stephen Levy, senior economist at the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, said the decline was a sign the state is edging toward the end of the recession.
"But we are still in recession," he said. "Job losses are job losses."
California has fared worse than many other states because it was one of the epicenters of the housing collapse, Levy said.
The state continued to see declines in construction, manufacturing, transportation, trade, finance, education and health and government. The trade, transportation and utilities sectors posted the largest drop, losing a combined 15,900 jobs.
California is among only 15 states and the District of Columbia with jobless rates above 10 percent.
Unemployment rose in 26 states in July, but the national jobless rate notched down to 9.4 percent from 9.5 percent in June.
The hardest-hit county in California was Imperial, with an unemployment rate of 30.2 percent, followed by Yuba, Merced and Trinity counties.
The state has lost 760,200 jobs since July 2008, a drop of 5.1 percent, according to a state survey of 42,000 California businesses. A smaller federal survey of households found 798,000 job losses over the same period.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the latest unemployment figures indicate California still has work to do on its economy.
"We must fix what is broken in this state," he said.
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Oh I see the Stimulus bill is working ( sarcasm)
This is what the rest of the country can look forward to if they allow their states to be safe havens for illegals.
Re: Oh I see the Stimulus bill is working ( sarcasm)
Quote:
Originally Posted by ELE
This is what the rest of the country can look forward to if they allow their states to be safe havens for illegals.
It's not high enough until it hits the people that WANT ILLEGALS here!