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Yet Another Broken Record: California Unemployment at 11.5%
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May's unemployment numbers are the state's highest in modern record keeping, according to the Department of Labor. That's a loss of 69,000 jobs with a majority in the government sector and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to lay off 5,000 state employees in his latest budget plan. Other cuts in that plan would force other government agencies to cut jobs, too. Compared to a year ago May, unemployment was 6.8%. Since then, a total of 885,000 jobs have been lost. Four other states, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island and South Carolina, had higher rates.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
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