Jobless rate skyrockets

L.A. County's unemployment rate in July was 7.5 percent, which compares with 4.9 percent a year earlier. That's also slightly higher than the 7.3 percent rate for California (the national rate was 5.7 percent). Up until just a few months ago, L.A. appeared to be holding its own in the face of a worsening national economy. Sure, there were problems in real estate and banking, but other sectors - government, technology, health care - were helping offset the losses. But July's numbers reflect an economy that's really on the ropes. Imports are down, Hollywood is being more frugal, tourism is off. The offsets are just not coming through. Unemployment is now higher than at any time in more than 10 years - going back to the mid-1990s when the rate was over 10 percent as L.A. struggled to get back on its feet. It’s hard to believe that these figures wouldn’t constitute a full-fledged recession. (All that said, my wife and I were in Culver City last night and every restaurant was packed at 9:30. So it's obviously not all doom and gloom.)

The separate payroll survey for July showed a drop of 39,600 jobs in L.A. County from just the previous month, with the largest decline - 25,800 jobs - coming from government employment (and education accounting for the vast amount of that total). Also down was entertainment (2,900) and manufacturing (2,100). Leisure and hospitality and construction were both up 300 jobs each. Here's the EDD release.