Unemployment

The employment picture in the U.S. remained bleak last month as the nation's payrolls fell for a second straight month, with private-sector businesses adding a disappointingly scant number of new jobs. The jobless rate held steady at 9.5% in July, the government said Friday. The Labor Department said that private employers added just 71,000 new net jobs in July. Meanwhile, the federal government laid off 143,000 temporary census workers, and with budget-strapped local governments also cutting back, the total number of American jobs last month fell by 131,000 from June.

The state's labor market showed continued strength in October as California employers added 45,800 nonfarm jobs to payrolls last month, outpacing the U.S. growth rate. The unemployment rate dipped slightly to 10.1% from 10.2%, according to data released Friday by the state Employment Development Department. In addition, September's  job gains were revised upward to 32,000 jobs compared to the 8,500 originally reported last month. Quiz: How much do you know about California's economy?

German Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel said that cutting unemployment and Germany's budget deficit would be her priorities as leader. She added that a month of hard work would be needed to get a new government in place. Germany's persistently high jobless rate helped bring down outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's center-left coalition in last month's parliamentary elections. Merkel told Der Spiegel in an interview that "unemployment must fall in this parliamentary term."

SACRAMENTO -- About one out of three jobless people in California could lose up to $450 a week in federal unemployment benefits late next month, if Congress and the president don't reach a so-called fiscal cliff agreement. Failure to cut a deal on a complex bundle of proposed tax increases and spending cuts could leave 400,000 Californians and as many as two million people across the country without access to emergency federal assistance that's been available for the last four and one-half years.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's unemployment rate rose for the first time in nearly a year, to 8.2% in May, as the economy added a disappointingly small number of jobs for the third straight month. The government said Friday that employers created on net just 69,000 jobs last month -- less than half of what analysts were expecting. What's more, the Labor Department revised downward the job-growth numbers for the prior two months, putting the average monthly job growth at 96,000 for the last three months.

New claims for state unemployment insurance fell last week but still hovered at a level suggesting that employers' demand for workers has eased. The Labor Department said that initial applications for jobless benefits declined by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 370,000 for the week ended March 3. The week before, claims shot up by 41,000, according to revised figures. That was a bigger increase than the government previously estimated.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday that improved education was the best long-term solution to the job losses caused by globalization and other economic gyrations, but he acknowledged that an extension of unemployment benefits might help in the meantime. Testifying before the House Education and Workforce Committee, Greenspan warned that a retreat to protectionist policies would be the wrong response to trends that have contributed to the loss of 2.

With unemployment levels at a four-year high, the government on Saturday urged Mexicans to create their own jobs, even if that means just making tacos or baking cakes at home. Economy Minister Fernando Canales said in a national radio address that the government would use federal funds to help people who came up with good ideas for jobs. "Simple ones are no less important: Set up a taco stall, a hairdressers' salon, bake cakes at home ... products that give you added value," Canales said.

DEBBIE SMITH Over 50, in a jam that's 'hopeless and desolate' Debbie Smith is a victim of California's real estate meltdown. In September, she lost her job as an office manager and marketing assistant for a chain of magazines that showcased available homes and acreage. Smith, 54, of Port Hueneme, hit all the online job sites hard but came up with nothing but responses from "bogus recruiters" seeking her personal information. Money got tight. Smith lost her home to foreclosure and moved into a rental with her son. After her unemployment benefits ran out, Smith began selling her belongings on the Internet and baby-sat her grandchildren for $20 a day. "To me, it's hopeless and desolate," she said.

Even though the labor market is improving, thousands of unemployed Californians are caught in a bind: Some employers only want to hire them if they already have a job. Some companies state that plainly in employment ads. Others are more discreet, screening out jobless workers during the initial application process. Discrimination? Perhaps. But so far it's legal. But it won't be if a bill introduced this week by Assemblyman Michael Allen (D-Santa Rosa) is approved by California lawmakers.