L.A. unemployment at historic low

L.A. County's jobless rate fell to 4.2 percent in November, which is the lowest level in at least 30 years. A year earlier, it was 5.3 percent. If you throw in all the folks working in L.A.'s cash-only underground economy, the percentage might be lower. By comparison, California's jobless rate last month was 4.6 percent and the nation was at 4.5 percent. Almost 20,000 jobs were added in L.A. County from a month earlier - half of those coming from retail (pretty normal this time of year). Government was good for 5,000 jobs. There's little, if any, indication that the housing slump has impacted the overall economy - as some economists expected earlier this year. What this data doesn't provide is information about wages, which would probably tell you a lot about L.A.'s thriving have- and have-not economy.