California Unemployment At 12 Percent, Few Companies Hired In August
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - No jobs were added in the U.S. during August and California unemployment became the second highest in the nation.
The Labor Department jobs report out Friday was the worst one in 11 months.
Nationally, unemployment held steady at 9.1 percent, but previously reported job addition figures for June and July were revised down.
The average work week declined and hourly earnings fell, an issue San Francisco health aide Ghenet OBagdorgis has felt acutely.
The licensed nurse assistant has been working just two days a week, and desperately wants more hours to make ends meet.
"I'm looking for hospital house keeping or care giver," she said, perusing listings at the San Francisco Employment Development Office. There was more competition in her field than ever, she said.
KCBS' Margie Shafer Reports:
EDD officials said some companies are hiring, pointing to a Ross store opening where Gap recently closed at Fisherman's wharf.
Salesforce.com, the security company Securitas and Comcast also have open positions.
But the latest job report only fueled worries the U.S. might already be slipping back into recession.
Rob, a construction project manager, has been out of work for two years and four months. His wife supports them both while he keeps looking for work.
"I talk to my friends, I watch Craigslist, I look at job boards," he said, with no luck in all that time.
Benny Jackson suffered a heart attack that cost him his job with a traveling circus. Now he finds changing fields with an 8th grade education seems almost impossible.
"I'm trying to find something basically I can do that doesn't require a lot of heavy lifting," he said.
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