California's unemployment rate jumped to 6.8 percent in May and the state lost 10,900 more payroll jobs than it generated during the month, state officials said Friday.
The unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in April and 5.3 percent in May 2007, the Employment Development Department said.
California's unemployment rate hasn't been at this level since November 2003, at the tail end of the state's recovery from the economic woes wrought by the end of the tech boom, noted Stephen Levy, senior economist for the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.
"There is no question that the state economy is in a slowdown and that the slowdown will probably last for at least another year continuing the pressure on state and local government budgets into 2009 and 2010," Levy wrote Friday.
The construction sector, hit hard by the housing bust, accounted for the most job cuts over the past 12 months, shedding 88,400 positions, a 9.8 percent annual drop.
The latest job figures followed a revised loss of 9,100 payroll jobs in April.
May's job and unemployment data echo the situation across the U.S., where employers cut 49,000 jobs during the month. The national unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent, the sharpest monthly increase since 1986.
The U.S. economy has been slowing for several months under the strain of the housing slump and rising energy costs.
About 1.3 million Californians were looking for work in May, up by 115,000 since April and up 300,000 since May last year, the state said.
Some 467,300 were laid off, while 107,600 chose to leave their job. The rest were either temporarily employed or new job seekers.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seized on the grim unemployment figures to tout his administration's efforts to push for an economic stimulus package aimed at adding 12,500 jobs and retrain displaced construction workers.
Still, some economists have downplayed the potential impact of the plan, concluding that, at best, it would have little impact on California's economy.
In all, more than 15.1 million people in California held payroll jobs last month.
The state saw job gains in the natural resources and mining, information, and educational and health services sectors.
Those gains were offset by losses in construction, manufacturing, financial activities, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and trade, transportation and utilities.
Several employment sectors, including professional and business services and natural resources and mining, added a combined 138,700 jobs in the past year.
The construction, manufacturing, information, financial activities and trade, transportation and utilities sectors lost 157,300 jobs in the same period.
Levy expects that most of the state's housing-related job losses have probably come to pass.
"By next year this time, there will be more jobs related to housing in the California economy because building and sales levels have declined so far that some rebound, however modest, is likely," he said.
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