Led by a drop in government jobs, the unemployment rate, at 11.5 percent, in California was 200 basis points above the national jobless rate of 9.4 percent for the month of May
Four states, namely Michigan at 14.1 percent, Oregon 12.4 percent, Rhode Island and South Carolina with 12.1 percent each, have registered unemployment rates that are higher than the gloomy rate reported by California.
Education and health buck the trend
According to the reports released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor, California has lost a whopping 885,000 jobs since May 2008, the month when its unemployment rate stood at a decent 6.8 percent.
May of 2009 alone accounted for the elimination of 73,000 jobs in California. The total number of unemployed people in the state in May 2009 stood at 21,38,000, according to a press release from the Economic Development Department.
While every sector witnessed job losses in the month of May, the government sector topped the charts with 14,200 eliminations statewide. The only exception to the rule was the educational and health services sector that augmented 2,100 jobs and lent a helping hand to the unemployment rate.
Need for stimulus
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attributed the dismal unemployment rate to the unrelenting global recession. In fact, he termed the jobless figures as “natural" in the current economic turmoil.
Schwarzenegger was apprehensive that the recovery is also not imminent. He said, "A full recovery will not happen overnight -- it will take time. There is no greater priority right now than to stimulate the economy, create jobs and get California back on the road to prosperity."
He urged the lawmakers to roll out a budget deal to pull California out of the quagmire. He said that the current unemployment figures “only further underscores the need to continue the economic stimulus measures I fought for in the February budget."
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