The June unemployment rate was eleven-point-eight percent, up from eleven-point-seven in May. Loree Levy with the state's Employment Development Department says it's the first increase in the rate since last September. But she points out California added nearly 29-thousand jobs last month as well. The bright spot was in professional and business services. Levy says the state and local government sector continues to undermine recovery:
Levy: "The biggest weakness in the economy has been in government. We saw more than 61-thousand jobs lost over the year, while it wasn't necessarily the biggest loser over the month it has been the biggest drain on the economy over the year."
Levy says nearly a third of the state's more than two million
unemployed have been without a job for a year or more. The
U.S. unemployment rate was nine-point-two percent in
June.