Jobless rates edge lower in L.A., California

Steady but still quite slow. California's unemployment rate in December was 11.1 percent, down from 11.3 percent the previous month and 12.5 percent a year earlier. In L.A. County, the rate was 11.8 percent down from 11.9 percent in November. The separate payroll report showed a gain of 10,700 jobs in December; in L.A. County the increase was 3,600. Those are modest increases, though the number of jobs created in November was revised upward to 24,700 from 6,600. Probably the best news is that for all of 2011, 240,300 jobs were created - a solid turnaround from the recession years when more than one million jobs were lost in the state.