Unemployment Rate

California's labor market stumbled in April as employers in a wide swath of industries trimmed their payrolls, shaking the state's long-sputtering economy. Employers shed 4,200 jobs last month from such diverse industries as construction and hospitality, ending eight months of employment gains, according to figures released Friday from the state's Employment Development Department. The unemployment rate, however, dipped last month to 10.9% from 11% in March, the result of discouraged workers leaving the labor force, according to the department.

It was kind of a buzz-kill moment. Earlier this month, at a town hall meeting in Township, Pa., Mitt Romney mentioned that the jobless rate had dropped a bit, from 8.2% to 8.1%. The audience started to applaud, but Romney stopped them. "Normally, that would be cause for celebration," said the former Massachusetts governor. "But anything near 8% or over 4% percent is not cause for celebration.... The reason the rate came down is because about 340,000 people dropped out of the workforce.

California employers are hiring again, swelling payrolls by nearly 29,000 positions in June and allowing the state to outpace the nation in job growth as its start-and-stop recovery appears to have gotten back on track. The state has added 110,000 jobs in the first half of the year, compared with just 83,000 positions for all of 2010. Still, it's an uneven recovery, with growth concentrated in affluent areas such as Silicon Valley and in high-paying fields such as professional services.

California's labor market stumbled in April as employers in a wide swath of industries trimmed their payrolls, shaking the state's long-sputtering economy. Employers shed 4,200 jobs last month from such diverse industries as construction and hospitality, ending eight months of employment gains, according to figures released Friday from the state's Employment Development Department. The unemployment rate, however, dipped last month to 10.9% from 11% in March, the result of discouraged workers leaving the labor force, according to the department.

As President Obama began selling his new jobs package, he was pressed Wednesday from both the left and the right, with Republicans warning about ballooning deficits and black lawmakers seeking bolder action on an unemployment rate that approaches 16% for African Americans. Partisan tensions surfaced at a private White House meeting with congressional leaders of both parties. In an unusually aggressive move, Obama opened the meeting by accusing Republicans of "rooting against" an economic recovery, according to an account provided by Republican aides.

A new survey by a prominent veterans advocacy group has found an unemployment rate among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that is significantly higher than the rate reported in a recent government survey. Nearly 17% of veterans surveyed by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said they were unemployed, the group said Monday. A survey released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics put the unemployment rate at 12.1% for veterans who have served since the Sept.

An unexpected burst of job growth last month helped drive down the nation's unemployment rate to its lowest level in three years, sparking a rally on Wall Street and raising hopes that the long-sluggish labor market is rapidly gaining momentum. Employers in the U.S. added 243,000 net new jobs in January -- about 100,000 more than what analysts were forecasting and the most in nine months. Job gains were broad-based, powered by robust increases in manufacturing and solid additions in professional and business services, such as accounting and engineering, and in the leisure and healthcare industries.

Unemployment among Hispanics in the U.S. has soared since the recession hit because those workers are disproportionately employed in industries and regions hardest hit by the downturn, according to a congressional report released Wednesday. Hispanic workers were more likely to be employed in the construction sector, which was pounded during the housing collapse, particularly in states including California, Florida and Nevada, which experienced the largest declines in housing prices and biggest increases in foreclosures.

David Joyce marched his way to the front of the U.S. immigration line using his pocketbook, sinking half a million dollars into a Vermont ski resort. The British citizen had spent years in a futile effort to secure green cards for himself, his wife and their 9-year-old son so they could relocate to sunny Florida. Then, a fellow emigre tipped him off to a little-known federal program that helps foreigners gain permanent U.S. residency by investing in American businesses. Graphic: Number of investors' visas to U.S. "In six months, we had our green cards," said Joyce, 51. "Considering everything we've been through, this was easy.

It was kind of a buzz-kill moment. Earlier this month, at a town hall meeting in Township, Pa., Mitt Romney mentioned that the jobless rate had dropped a bit, from 8.2% to 8.1%. The audience started to applaud, but Romney stopped them. "Normally, that would be cause for celebration," said the former Massachusetts governor. "But anything near 8% or over 4% percent is not cause for celebration.... The reason the rate came down is because about 340,000 people dropped out of the workforce.

Re "Mitt Romney: The early years," Opinion, May 13 Michael Kinsley asks if Mitt Romney's reported high school antic almost 50 years ago of forcibly cutting off another student's hair should affect our assessment of him as a potential president. If Romney had told us that yes, he did it, that he should not have done it and that he was sorry, the case would have been closed. But Romney told us that he doesn't remember the incident. The things I did in high school still come vividly to mind after more than 60 years.

"Welcome to Ohio," Mitt Romney told President Obama with more than a dash of sarcasm in an open letter on the eve of Obama's rally Saturday in Columbus. "I have a simple question for you: Where are the jobs?" Romney got an answer to that question last week from Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Campaigning for Romney outside the capital, the Republican governor could hardly have strayed further off message as he painted a bright picture of economic recovery in Ohio just as Romney was trying to do the opposite.

Mitt Romney, who has long staked his presidential bid on his business experience, painted a rosy picture of his definition of a successful economy on Friday, arguing that the unemployment rate should be cheered only if it is below 4%, and arguing that half a million new jobs should be created every month in a true economic recovery. Those sorts of economic conditions have rarely existed in recent American history. But when Romney made his remarks in response to a new jobs report that unemployment had dipped to 8.1% and the economy added 115,000 jobs last month, they were just the latest chapter in the harsh critique that Romney has hammered throughout the campaign.

WASHINGTON - On the first Friday of every month, at precisely 8:30 a.m., the Bureau of Labor Statistics flicks a switch and the latest clue about the U.S. economy - the jobs report - gets transmitted all over the world. And then the frenzy begins. Politicians in Washington race for the mikes to proclaim that the economy is back, or maybe falling into an abyss. Investors from Brussels to Bangkok win and lose billions. And in American factories, offices and living rooms, you can almost hear a collective groan of dismay or sigh of relief.

Two decades after the L.A. riots brought pledges of help to rebuild South Los Angeles, the area is worse off in many ways than it was in 1992. Median income, when adjusted for inflation, is lower. Many middle-class blacks have fled in search of safer neighborhoods and better schools. And the unemployment rate, which was bad at the time of the riots, has reached even more dire levels. In two areas of South Los Angeles - Florence Graham and Westmont - unemployment is almost 24%. Back in 1992, it was 21% in Florence Graham and 17% in Westmont.

The Federal Reserve, in a new economic projection, sees the unemployment rate easing to as low as 7.8% in the last three months this year from the current 8.2%, but economic growth this year may rise only to a middling pace of 2.4 to 2.9%. The central bank also said Wednesday that inflation was likely to be slightly higher than previously forecast, reflecting higher oil prices. But most Fed policymakers still expect to hit their inflation target of 2% this year and in the next two years.

The U.S. job market strengthened at the start of the year as employers added an unexpectedly large number of new jobs and the unemployment rate in January dropped for the fifth straight month to 8.3%--the lowest in nearly three years. The Labor Department said Friday that employers nationwide added 243,000 net new jobs in January - about 100,000 more than what analysts were forecasting. Job gains were broad-based, powered by increases in manufacturing, professional and business services such as accounting and engineering, and in leisure and healthcare industries.

REPORTING FROM WASHINGTON -- The nation's unemployment rate dropped further in December, to the lowest level in nearly three years, as employers added a healthy batch of new jobs to close out a tumultuous year on an hopeful note for the millions of jobless American workers still struggling to get back on their feet. The Labor Department said Friday that the jobless rate edged down to 8.5% in December from a revised 8.7% in November. The unemployment rate has fallen steadily since August, when the rate was 9.1%, based on revisions typically made at the end of the year.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve upgraded its outlook for the economy, predicting the unemployment rate would fall to as low as 7.8% in the fourth quarter - a drop that could have a significant effect on the presidential election. Just three months ago, most Fed policymakers expected the nation's jobless figure to be 8.2%, its current rate, or higher in the last three months of the year. The improved outlook, issued Wednesday at the end of a two-day Fed meeting, reflects a sharper-than-expected drop in unemployment in recent months and projections for slightly faster economic growth this year, including some improvement in the downtrodden housing market.

California's labor market continued its slow improvement in March as employers added jobs for the eighth straight month. Payrolls grew by 18,200 jobs last month, according to figures released Friday by the California Employment Development Department. That's on top of a revised gain of 38,600 jobs in February. The unemployment rate increased to 11% in March, up slightly from February's 10.9% rate. Improved employment prospects have encouraged more idled California workers to start job hunting again, driving the unemployment rate higher, said Dennis Meyers, principal economist for the state's Department of Finance.