Graph of the day: California unemployment rate, 1994-2008
A weak housing market and decreased consumer spending raised the state’s jobless rate to its highest level in 14 years
By Dean Calbreath (Contact) Union-Tribune Staff Writer
The unemployment rate in California soared to 9.3 percent last month – its highest point in 15 years – as construction firms, hotels, restaurants, casinos and amusement parks laid off workers in response to the widening recession.
Statewide, 78,200 workers lost their jobs in December, bringing the year-over-year job losses to 257,400, according to data released yesterday by the state Employment Development Department.
The jobless rate represented a major jump from 8.3 percent in November and 5.9 percent in December 2007. The national unemployment rate was 7.2 percent last month.
With job losses projected to continue into the near future, many economists, employment experts and labor leaders say it’s likely California’s jobless rate will hit double digits later this year, topping the recession of the early 1990s.
“We’re facing a code-red economic crisis,” said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation. “Skyrocketing joblessness is causing workers and their families to fall further into a deep, dark hole that is helping to fuel a vicious downward spiral for our state’s economy.”
