California Jobless Rate Edges Down; 96,500 Jobs Added
SACRAMENTO (AP/CBS) - California's unemployment rate has slipped lower for the second month in a row as the state added nearly 100,000 jobs in February. But the employment situation is still worse than the national average.
The state Employment Development Department said Friday that the state's jobless rate fell to 12.2 percent in February, down from 12.4 percent in January and 12.5 percent in December.
KCBS' Margie Shafer Reports:
California's rate is still much higher than the U.S. jobless rate, which was 8.9 percent in February and has fallen from 9.7 percent over the last year.
California added 96,500 nonfarm jobs in February. There were job gains in 10 out of the 11 sectors surveyed, with only government jobs declining.
About 2.2 million Californians are unemployed.
KCBS interviews UCLA Anderson Forecast senior economist Jerry Nickelsburg:
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