California Watch

California’s unemployment rate remains the second-highest in the nation – 12 percent in July – but among some demographic groups, joblessness is even higher. 

The unemployment rate among 16- to 19-year-olds in California was 34.2 percent last month, according to the state’s analysis of federal data [PDF]. That’s down from 34.5 percent a month earlier and 34.8 percent a year ago.

For non-white workers, unemployment over the past year has increased, from 12.4 percent to 13.4 percent. Whereas 11.6 percent of whites were out of work in July, 14.3 percent of Hispanics and 20.3 percent of blacks were unemployed.

While the unemployment rate in California is higher among men than women, over the past year, it has improved more for men than it has for women: Between July 2010 and July 2011, the unemployment rate among men fell from 13 percent to 12.5 percent. Among women, unemployment rose from 11 to 11.4 percent during the same time.

Many of the jobless Californians counted a year ago still are unemployed today: Slightly more than 1 in 3 – 727,000 people in all – have been out of work 52 weeks or more. Over the past year, the number of people unemployed a year or more grew 18.8 percent.

Read more.

Photo cwgcph/Flickr