California's jobless rate is now 1.6 percentage points higher than it was in June 2007 and at the worst level since October 2003, according to data from the state Employment Development Department. It is tied with Mississippi in having the country's third-highest unemployment rate.
California is one of a dozen states with jobless rates over 6%. The widespread doldrums prompted Congress on July 1 to extend eligibility for unemployment benefits to 39 weeks from 26, said Maurice Emsellem, a policy director for the National Employment Law Project in Oakland. As many as 1.6 million Californians may qualify for the extended benefits.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, July 20, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 81 words Type of Material: Correction
California jobless rate: An article in Saturday's Section A about California's June unemployment statistics used percentages in quantifying job losses of varying types. The statistics should have been rendered in terms of thousands of jobs lost. Therefore, the number of government workers fell by 6,000, not 6%; professional and business positions declined by 5,200, not 5.2%; manufacturing jobs fell by 4,400, not 4.4%; and the information sector declined by 2,600 jobs, not 2.6%. Retail trade positions dropped by 2,500, not 2.5%.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, July 24, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 3 inches; 124 words Type of Material: Correction
California jobless rate: An article in Saturday's Section A about California's June unemployment used percentages to quantify the kinds of jobs lost. As a correction published Sunday said, the statistics should have been expressed in terms of thousands of jobs lost. The Sunday correction included corrections in five categories but failed to include one statistic from the article: The article cited a 2.1% drop in construction jobs in June compared with May; it should have listed that June decline as a loss of 2,100 jobs. The other correct figures are: the number of government workers fell by 6,000; professional and business positions declined by 5,200; manufacturing jobs fell by 4,400; the information sector declined by 2,600 jobs; and retail trade positions dropped by 2,500.
The jobs picture in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan area topped the statewide numbers in June. The unemployment rate there jumped to 7% from 6.7% in May, 2 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
Over the last year in Los Angeles, employment dropped 7.2% in construction, 7% in motion picture and sound recording and 3.3% in the financial sector.
In the Inland Empire, job losses have been steeper. June unemployment hit 8% in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, up half a percentage point from May and 2.1 points from June 2007. In Orange County, the monthly unemployment rate rose four-tenths of a percentage point to 5.2% in June, up 1.2 points in a year.
The dearth of construction work across the region signals that the paralysis besetting residential construction is spreading to previously immune commercial projects, Chapman University economist Esmael Adibi said.
"We haven't been hit with the brunt of the construction cutback yet," he said. "Job losses are going to accelerate at least through this year."
Howard Roth, chief economist for the governor's finance department, said the 12,800 net job loss in California from May to June, though "not huge," provided concrete evidence that "the economy is still decelerating," with damage spreading to heretofore untouched areas.
Particularly surprising, Roth said, was the news that governments lost 6,500 jobs in June. The state accounted for 5,300 of them, and more cutbacks are expected through the summer and fall as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers struggle to fill a $15.2-billion hole in the state budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.
Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., said the elimination of government jobs "is a very bad sign." Civil service jobs traditionally have been "an engine of growth," Kyser said, "but now, they may become a brake on the economy."
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marc.lifsher@latimes.com
