Unemployment in California hits 12.5%

[jimmy olsen]

Yikes, damn that's bad.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cal-jobs11-2010mar11,0,3667613.story

Unemployment tops 20% in eight California counties
The state's jobless rate of 12.5% in January was its worst on record and fifth-highest in the nation.


By Alana Semuels

March 11, 2010

For many California areas, unemployment rates moved persistently higher in January, indicating that the national economic recovery hasn't yet translated into jobs for the Golden State.

New county-by-county figures released by the state Wednesday showed that in eight counties, more than 1 in 5 people were out of work. Moreover, revised numbers for last year show that fewer people were employed than was previously believed.

The state was one of five, along with Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, that reached their highest unemployment rates since the government began keeping track in 1976, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. California's was 12.5% in January, up from 12.3% in December.

"The unemployment rate will be persistently at this high level for at least a few more months," said Esmael Adibi, an economist at Chapman University in Orange.

The unemployment rate for the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro area reached 15% in January, its highest since 1990, the earliest year for which the state has comparable data available. Unemployment in Orange County reached 10.1%, up from 9.1% in December.

The state's revised data for last year showing elevated unemployment indicate that a recovery could take longer than previously predicted.

"The impact on the labor market was much more severe than what we had estimated," Adibi said.

Most counties were still struggling under the burden of joblessness, especially the eight counties where rates were higher than 20%. Merced County, for instance, had an unemployment rate of 21.7% in January, and Imperial County's rate was 27.3%.

The national unemployment rate in January was 9.7%, and the country experienced a strong 5.75% annualized increase in gross domestic product in last year's final three months.

"The real mystery now is why we aren't getting job growth when the GDP has been positive," said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.

Budget problems in state and local government are expected to further drag down the state's recovery, Levy said. Even if they don't get pink slips, state employees are earning less money because of furloughs and salary reductions, which reduces consumer spending in the state.

The government sector, which includes public education, lost 4,500 jobs from December to January. Nancy Hack lost her job as a gardener with the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks a year ago, and said that finding work has been a challenge at her age, 54.

"I'm like a fish out of water," she said.

Los Angeles County, with an unemployment rate of 12.5%, was hard hit by declines in the trade, transportation and utilities sector, which shed 21,900 jobs, and professional and business services, which lost 16,300 jobs.

The same sectors were hit in the Inland Empire, losing 7,700 and 3,600 jobs, respectively. Orange County lost 5,700 jobs in trade, transportation and utilities and 3,000 in professional and business services.

San Diego County's unemployment rate reached 11% in January, up from a revised 10.3% in December. The unemployment rate in Ventura County was 11.6% in January, up from a revised 10.9% in December.

California's unemployment rate was the fifth-highest in the nation, behind Michigan, Nevada, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

alana.semuels @latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

[Jaron]

 

[sbr]

10.7 in Oregon.  That officially went up another tic (or 10) today.

http://www.qualityinfo.org/olmisj/ArticleReader?itemid=00006934

Oregon's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 10.7 percent in January from the revised December figure of 10.6 percent. The rate has been close to 10.7 percent since October 2009. Oregon's unemployment rate was 9.9 percent in January 2009. In January, 227,579 Oregonians were unemployed, up from 210,754 in January 2009.

Revised figures for the last three months of 2009 show each month posted a drop of between 1,000 and 1,800 jobs. January's employment change was also close to a flat trend, with a slight gain of 1,100. This was the first seasonally adjusted monthly job gain since February 2008, when 900 jobs were added.

In January, most of the major industries performed in line with their typical seasonal patterns. Two major industries posted substantial seasonally adjusted job gains: trade, transportation, and utilities (+1,300) and professional and business services (+1,400). Construction (-1,600 jobs) was the only major industry to post a substantial seasonally adjusted job loss.

Trade, transportation, and utilities cut only 10,900 jobs in January, when a loss of 12,200 was predicted due purely to seasonal factors. January normally sees large job reductions following the buildup of workers for the holiday retail season.

Professional and business services employment has shown no clear upward or downward trend over the past several months. In January, employment dropped only 3,500, when a loss of 4,900 is the normal seasonal pattern.

Construction continued to trend downward rapidly, with a loss of 4,400 jobs during a month when the expected drop due to seasonal factors was 2,800. All published components of construction were negative in January, with specialty trade contractors cutting back the most with a decline of 2,800 jobs.

[jimmy olsen]

You can see all the stats here.
http://www.bls.gov/lau/home.htm

Michigan is 14.3%

[JacobL]

We still have the crown!

....


oh wait...

[Strix]

I think NY deserves bonus points. We are about to have our second governor laid-off since the recession began. 

[Jaron]

I think NY deserves bonus points. We are about two have our second governor laid-off since the recession began. 

[garbon]

two have?

[Razgovory]

two have?

Yeah, you cut something in two and you both get a have.

[garbon]

Yeah, you cut something in two and you both get a have.

How do you get a not?

[derspiess]

Never thought I'd see West Virginia on the middle/low end for this stat, but it looks like rural states are less affected by job losses.  North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska are still below 5%.

[garbon]

Never thought I'd see West Virginia on the middle/low end for this stat, but it looks like rural states are less affected by job losses.  North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska are still below 5%.

It must be hard to lose one's career as a subsistence farmer.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Virginia is, of course, still awesome.

[jimmy olsen]

Virginia is, of course, still awesome.

Rhode Island is even worse 12.7%!.

[Martinus]

Yeah, you cut something in two and you both get a have.

How do you get a not?

You get a piece of string and tie its ends to each other.