Hope springs despite the California February unemployment
I was quite pleased to see THIS article that talks about a growing number of economists who are seeing signs of an economic recovery, perhaps as soon as this summer. Even a slowing rate of job losses could help restore some consumer confidence.
Besides, there is something hormonal about springtime…. 
I deliberately did not quote the California labor statistics for February (PDF) when they were first available on March 20. I will summarize them below.
California’s unemployment rate was 10.5 percent in February, and nonfarm payroll jobs declined by 116,000 during the month, according to data released by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) from two separate surveys.
The U.S. unemployment rate was 8.1% in February.
A federal survey of households, done with a smaller sample than another survey of employers, shows a decrease in the number of employed people. It estimates the number of Californians holding jobs in February was 16,621,000, a decrease of 47,000 from January, and down 495,000 from the employment total in February of last year.
The number of people unemployed in California was 1,950,000 that month, and up by 824,000 compared with February of last year.
Let’s hope that the optimistic economists are right!
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™
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