Little change for L.A. jobs

The December unemployment rate rose to 12.4 percent from a revised 12.2 percent the month before. As we posted earlier, California unemployment inched higher, also to 12.4 percent. Though there was a small uptick in L.A.'s rate, the numbers would suggest at least some stabilizing in the labor market. Many economists expected unemployment to peak sometime in the fourth quarter - and it looks like that will be the case. The more vexing question is how long the rate stays this high, or nearly this high. The prevailing view is that we'll have double-digit unemployment in L.A. for another year, possibly two. Bad as that is, it doesn't address an even worse situation: underemployment, which is when someone has a job but not in his or her desired field (or desired salary). Underemployment can easily be double the actual unemployment rate. As for the separate payroll survey, 2,300 jobs were lost in L.A. County between November and December. No one industry stood out in the report, though retail seemed to have had a strong month (holiday hiring) and the entertainment industry added 2,300 payroll jobs. Some highlights of month-to-month changes:

--Manufacturing (total) -0.2%
--Aerospace Product & Parts Manufacturing -0.3%
--Food Manufacturing -0.5%
--Apparel Manufacturing +1.5%
--Construction (total) -1.5%
--Residential Building Construction -1.1%
--Heavy & Civil Engineering Construction -1.5%
--Trade, Transportation & Utilities +0.7%
--Retail Trade (total) +1.2%
--Electronics & Appliance Stores -2.2%
--Clothing & Clothing Accessories Stores +5.2%
--Department Stores +2.6%
--Transportation & Warehousing +0.6%
--Newspaper, Periodical, Book & Directory Publis -1.0%
--Motion Picture & Sound Recording +1.8%
--Offices of Real Estate Agents & Brokers +0.8%
--Legal Services -0.8%
--Accounting, Tax Preparation & Bookkeeping -1.8%
--Architectural, Engineering & Related Services -0.3%
--Colleges, Universities & Professional Schools -1.0%

Here's the press release from the EDD.