The state gained 12,500 jobs in January, and the unemployment rate slipped a tenth of a percent from December - to 12.4 percent.  Loree Levy with California's Employment Development Department says that's relatively good news.

Levy: "It's not job losses; it's job gains.  They're small, they're modest.  We definitely need to see them gaining momentum, but at least we're on the right track."

For example, the state gained around 102,000 jobs between January 2010 and January 2011.  That might sound like a lot - but it's a gain of less than one percent.

Levy: "It's good that the numbers are starting to rebound.  What we need now is for that rebound to kick in even more with greater momentum."

The 12.4 percent unemployment rate in January compares to a national jobless rate that month of 9.0 percent.