Unemployment, Unemployment Rate | featured news

California's unemployment rate ticked down to 11.9% in April after the state added 8,900 jobs, a relatively small number in a state still suffering from the Great Recession.

This city is grappling with one of the most troubling contradictions of the new economy: Even as it has one of the nation's highest unemployment rates, it has thousands of job openings.

The unemployment rate rose in 20 states last month as employers in most states shed jobs....

The state is borrowing $40 million a day from the federal government to provide assistance to jobless workers, but has resisted changing the formulas it uses to determine and fund those benefits.California's fund for paying unemployment insurance is broke.

Employers added the most jobs in five months, but the unemployment rate remained stuck at 9.6 percent for the third straight month.

The state, which has the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation, lost 63,500 jobs in September. In Los Angeles County, the unemployment rate was 12.6%, up from 12.2% a year ago. California's economy continued to suffer in September as employers cut jobs from payrolls and the state's unemployment rate remained steady at 12.4%.

The unemployment rate stayed flat at 9.6 percent in September, but the drop in employment was far worse than expected.

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%.

In the wake of a new jobs report showing increased unemployment, President Obama today said the steps his administration has taken to improve the economy are working, but not fast enough. He called on Congress to pass a small business bill and said he would announce next week a broader set of ideas to accelerate job creation.

Private employers added 67,000 jobs, more than forecast, but governments shed jobs in August, the Labor Department reported.