California employers added workers to their payrolls in October for the first time in more than a year, but the state's unemployment rate ticked higher as more job seekers entered the labor pool amid hopes that companies are finally hiring again.
The state gained 25,700 jobs last month, marking the first time it has added workers since April 2008. Government, financial activities, education and health were among the sectors posting gains, probably with the help of the massive federal stimulus package, analysts say.
But the jobless rate continued to inch up, as the positions added couldn't keep up with the expansion of the labor force. Unemployment statewide hit a fresh post-World War II high of 12.5%, from a revised 12.3% in September, the California Employment Development Department said Friday.
Prospects for job growth in key recession-battered industries, meanwhile, remain weak.
"Job losses are moderating, but I don't think we'll see a sustained recovery in California until we begin to see job growth in construction and manufacturing," said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.
California, which has the most manufacturing jobs in the country, lost 8,300 jobs in that sector last month and 124,400 since October 2008.
Gene Morgan is one of the casualties of the manufacturing slowdown.
The 60-year-old Stanislaus County man has been looking for a factory job since June, when his contract doing quality assurance at a medical device manufacturing company in nearby Mountain View wasn't renewed. He's willing to travel just about anywhere in the state, or endure a long commute, for a full-time job.
"Right now it seems like everybody's in 'we don't know what's going to happen' mode," he said.
Adding to his anxiety: The construction company where his wife works is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, he said, which could mean that both will be out of work.
Good outlook for manufacturing
Nationwide, manufacturing has begun to revive slightly with the fledgling economic recovery. In the three months that ended Sept. 30, the country's gross domestic product increased for the first time in a year. The weakness of the dollar is making U.S. exports more affordable overseas -- in October, exports at the Port of Los Angeles were up, year-over-year, for the first time in 2009. And a national manufacturing index showed that economic activity in that sector expanded in October for the third consecutive month.
