L.A. employment picture improves a bit

Barring any nasty surprise, it looks like the county jobless rate will have peaked out at a record-setting 12.9 percent. February saw a drop of 0.3 percent, to 12.6 percent, which is hardly terrific, although another indication that the worst may be over (the state rate was 12.2 percent, down from 12.4 percent). The separate payroll survey showed a gain of 44,800 jobs in February, and a small overall gain in L.A. County civilian employment, to 4.3 million. Many of the additional jobs came in white collar-type industries - or as the state bean-counters call it, "professional and business services." This includes categories like administrative and support services, professional, scientific and technical services, and accounting, tax preparation, and bookkeeping services. Retail was down. All told, it's a decent report, but keep in mind that the national unemployment rate was 8.9 percent in February. In other words, the jobs recovery is taking a lot longer in California than in other parts of the country. And, of course, there are still high energy prices to worry about. Here's the EDD release.