L.A.’s Unemployment Rate Up Again to 12 Percent

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Education-related layoffs pushed Los Angeles County’s unemployment rate back up to 12 percent last month and led to a drop of 9,500 payroll jobs, state figures released Friday show.

Seasonal layoffs in education as the school year drew to an end resulted in the loss of roughly 20,000 jobs, according to the state Employment Development Department. With little growth in other areas of the economy, these cutbacks forced the jobless rate up to 12 percent from a revised 11.9 percent in May. Although the rate has improved since the 12.6 percent recorded in May 2010, it has hovered around 12 percent for the last several months.

The statewide unemployment rate in June was 11.8 percent, up slightly from 11.7 percent in May, but down from 12.4 percent a year ago. The national jobless rate was 9.2 percent in June.

Besides the huge seasonal drop in education, there were slight declines in wholesale trade, retail employment and state and local government.

Manufacturing employment was one of the few bright spots in June, gaining 3,000 jobs. Business services and entertainment also posted slight increases.

The news was also glum in the closely-watched year-over-year jobs figures as payrolls dropped by nearly 16,000 jobs, or 0.4 percent. Sharp cutbacks in local government took up the lion’s share of this decline, with construction also posting a drop.

The entertainment industry continued as a star performer, posting a gain of 16,000 jobs over the past 12 months.

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Howard Fine
Howard Fine is a 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles Business Journal. He covers stories pertaining to healthcare, biomedicine, energy, engineering, construction, and infrastructure. He has won several awards, including Best Body of Work for a single reporter from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers and Distinguished Journalist of the Year from the Society of Professional Journalists.

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