California's unemployment rate holds at 6.2 percent

sacramento -California's economy produced some upbeat news Friday when the state reported that the unemployment rate held steady in April at 6.2%.

The bad news: The state's percentage of jobless workers remained stalled at its highest level in almost four years, trailing only rates posted by Michigan and Alaska.

The unemployment rate in April was a full percentage point above its level at this time last year, with 192,000 more people out of work than in April 2007.

The economy created 800 fewer jobs in April than in March. But seasonably adjusted numbers for the month were up slightly - two-tenths of a percentage point - over a year ago, according to the California Economic Development Department.

The most significant job losses hit construction, manufacturing and professional and business services. The biggest growth was in government, leisure and hospitality, and eduction and health services.

Stephen Levy, director of the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto, warned not to count on state and local governments to keep generating jobs.

As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature cut spending in an attempt to fill a multibillion-dollar hole in next year's state budget, he said, "Presumably, we're coming up on the time when they will disappear."

Schwarzenegger's latest economic forecast, released Wednesday as part of his updated budget, anticipates a loss of 30,000 jobs in 2008. His January forecast had predicted a gain of 106,000.

Levy suggested that the weak employment picture, combined with high gasoline and food prices and declining home values, could spur consumers to keep a tight hold on their wallets. "A sharp slowdown in consumer spending is the major threat that could turn a mild and short slowdown into a more severe recession," he said.

marc.lifsher@latimes.com