Two months ago, Arreola lost his job at a computer disposal warehouse. He said he's had to put his two children into foster homes until he can find a new job. "I'll take anything," he said.
The chances of Arreola finding a job are getting slimmer. The pace of job losses has been accelerating from an average of 6,600 a month during the first half of 2008 to 36,400 a month in the second half of last year, said Howard Roth, chief economist for the state Department of Finance.
"This thing is still getting worse," Roth said, adding that the unemployment rate could hit 11% in 2009. The last time unemployment went that high was in February 1983, when the state was pulling out of a severe recession.
Job cutbacks keep on coming. In the first 10 days of this year, large and medium-size employers notified the California Employment Development Department that they planned to fire about 19,000 workers.
The layoffs are affecting industries of all kinds, large and small.
Boeing Co. announced satellite-related job cuts in El Segundo. Circuit City consumer electronic stores are being closed all across California, as are organic juice plants in Azusa and Glendora. Other major national employers that have sacked workers include American Airlines, AT&T Inc., DHL Express Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Adobe Systems Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Target Corp.
In December, California hemorrhaged jobs in 10 of 11 industry categories tracked by the Employment Development Department: natural resources and mining; construction; manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; information; financial activities; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; government; and other services. Even the area of education and healthcare, the single category that added jobs, gained only 2,300 jobs statewide for the month.
Health workers in Orange County have been particularly hard hit. Among employers filing layoff notices with the state for January is the Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center, which reported that it planned to let 510 workers go this month.
"At the moment, there's only one leg to stand on," hospitals and education, said Sung Won Sohn, an economist with Cal State Channel Islands. "And pretty soon there will be no leg."
Such widespread economic weakness puts California and the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a tough spot, Sohn said. Only the federal government has the ability to borrow enough money to provide California with a short-term economic stimulus that can put tens of thousands of people back to work quickly, he said.
Boosting spending on construction, which lost 11% of its jobs in the last year, is one of the fastest ways to get new money flowing through the economy, said Michael Bernick, a job-training specialist and former director of the state Employment Development Department.
Christopher Thornberg, principal of Los Angeles consulting firm Beacon Economics said the Obama administration had "aggressive plans," and "if they get in place early, they could actually get us moving again by the fourth quarter of 2009."
That sort of turnaround would offer a bit of hope to Martin Talamantes, 40, of Los Angeles, who was trained to install solar panels but hasn't been able to find a job for two months.
"I'm ready to get a job, but no one is hiring," he said.
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marc.lifsher@latimes.com
nathan.olivarezgiles@latimes.com
