Why is California unemployment rate so high?

Seems to boil down to the construction, which took a licking during the recession. The industry lost 74,400 jobs in the 12 months ended in June, more than any other sector. During that period, reports the WSJ, construction employment fell 12 percent, compared with a 1.3 percent drop in total nonfarm employment in the state (and a 7.4 percent drop in construction employment nationwide).

Among California metro areas, Los Angeles and Riverside lost the largest number of construction jobs in the 12 months ended in June, shedding 15,900 and 10,800 workers, respectively. Further north, Napa posted the biggest percentage decline in building employment. Its construction sector shrank 31% in June from a year earlier, a loss of 900 jobs. "I honestly thought that things would have been looking up by now," said Kyle Wheeler, of the plumbers and steamfitters union for Napa and Solano counties. "But they're not, and we see no end to it yet."

June construction jobs (% change from June 2009)
--Napa -31%
--El Centro -25%
--Sacramento -18.5%
--Riverside -15.5%
--San Luis Obispo -15.4%
--Bakersfield -15.3%
--Los Angeles -13.5%
--Santa Ana -13.2%
--Oxnard -12.4%
--Santa Barbara -11.4%
--San Jose -10.6%
--San Diego -4.9%