Employment Forecast

The number of state and local government jobs in California dropped by 1.4 percent between June 2011 and June 2012 – a modest improvement over the 2.0 percent decline the state experienced between June 2010 and June 2011. Nevertheless, California’s losses during the past year were more than twice as large as those in the US as a whole. The total number of state and local government jobs nationwide declined by just six-tenths (0.6) of a percent between June 2011 and June 2012. California’s disproportionately large public sector job losses reflect the ongoing impact of deep state and local government budget cuts. California’s unemployment rate declined modestly from a high of 12.4 percent in October.