Unemployment in California, Recession?

New Data about Joblessness is Raising Fears of a Recession in California. In January, California lost more than 20,000 jobs, keeping the unemployment rate at nearly 6 percent, according to data released yesterday by the state Employment Development Department. The data show that Orange County and the Inland Empire have been losing jobs for the past two quarters – fitting a commonly used definition of a regional recession. The culprit continues to be the bursting of the real estate bubble. In January, 13,000 workers throughout the state lost their jobs in the construction, real estate and mortgage industries. But the weakness has spread into other areas as well. Statewide in January, there were 1,500 job losses in leisure and hospitality services; 1,300 at educational and health services; and 25,100 job losses at information companies, mostly related to the recently settled screenwriters' strike in Hollywood. “California is going to have a recession,” said Esmael Adibi, an economist at Chapman University in Orange. “By our definition, Orange County and the Inland Empire – San Bernardino and Riverside counties – entered a recession in the third quarter of last year.” Click here to read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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