California unemployment rate rises to 12.4% The state loses 33,500 jobs in August, the third straight month of payroll cuts. California has lost 113,100 jobs since August 2009, when the unemployment rate was 12%.
By Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times
September 17, 2010|9:21 a.m.
California lost 33,500 jobs in August, marking the third straight month of payroll cuts and pushing the unemployment rate up to 12.4%.
That number of job losses is more than the revised 22,900 jobs cut from payrolls in July, according to data released Friday from the Employment Development Department.
There were 2.3 million unemployed Californians in August.
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Construction, manufacturing, financial activities, government, leisure and hospitality, trade, transportation and utilities lost jobs over the month. Government has lost 47,700 jobs over the year.
Educational and health services, mining and logging and professional and business services gained jobs over the year.
The state has lost 113,100 jobs since August 2009, when the unemployment rate was 12%.
The unemployment rate in Los Angeles County rose to 12.6% from 12.4% in July.
Eddie Karimi, 25, lost his job as a security guard in April 2009 and has only found one or two day-long minimum wage jobs since then. His father also lost his job recently, which means there's no income to support their four-person family, or pay the $1,100 a month rent on their Tujunga apartment.
They're just one of the families that, because of unemployment, has fallen into poverty. The Census Bureau released data Thursday showing that one in seven families in the U.S. live below the poverty line.
"I've been looking for every single type of work out there," Karimi said. "But we're barely making ends meet."
DON'T SHOOT, THEY'RE CALIFORNIANS, LET'EM BURN"