California added jobs last month, but the state's unemployment rate went up a bit anyway. More in this report from KVCR's Ken Vincent.
California added more than twenty-four thousand jobs in March, while its unemployment rate increased slightly to 4.3 percent, according to a state report released today [on Friday].
The jobless rate was up one-tenth of a percent from February.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s chief economic advisor Lenny Mendonca
says the numbers follow a steady pattern of job growth. He added, however, that two-thirds of the growth took place in the Bay Area.
“There are parts of the state that still have double-digit unemployment rates, Tulare at 12 percent, Kern County at 10.1 percent … And so there’s still an opportunity to ensure that that job creation is broadly spread across the state.” (:16)
Nine of the state’s top industry sectors gained positions. Construction reported the largest increase at nine thousand four hundred jobs.
