Reporting from Sacramento -- More than 1 in 10 California workers were unemployed in January, the largest percentage in nearly 26 years, the state reported today.
The 10.1% jobless rate is the highest since June 1983 and not far below the 11% record set in November 1982 at the worst point of a severe recession, according to the governor's office. Job losses escalated in January, with the state's unemployment rate jumping by 1.4 percentage points from a revised 8.7% for December.
The grim California job numbers tracked closely with data released earlier in the day by the U.S. Commerce Department that showed that the national economy contracted by 6.2% in the last three months of 2008, the biggest slowdown in 26 years.
The Inland Empire employment report has been delayed a week. But we were already at 10% so chances are very good that we will be even higher now. Those numbers do not bode well for the housing market. Many of those people are future foreclosures.