Jobless rate inches up

California's unemployment rate in June was 11.6 percent, up a shade from the previous month. The national unemployment rate was 9.5 percent. The state also lost 66,500 jobs last month. Here's the BLS release. Some snippets:

--The largest over-the-month decrease in the level of employment occurred in California (-66,500), followed by Texas (-40,600), Ohio (-33,000), and Michigan (-31,300).

--Michigan again reported the highest jobless rate, 15.2 percent. The states with the next highest rates were Rhode Island, 12.4 percent; Oregon, 12.2 percent; South Carolina, 12.1 percent; Nevada, 12.0 percent; California, 11.6 percent; Ohio, 11.1 percent; and North Carolina, 11.0 percent.

--States with statistically significant unemployment rate changes from June 2008 to June 2009, seasonally adjusted.
| Rate |
|-----------|-----------| Over-the-year
State | June | June | rate change(p)
| 2008 | 2009(p) |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama ........................| 4.9 | 10.1 | 5.2
Alaska .........................| 6.6 | 8.4 | 1.8
Arizona ........................| 5.5 | 8.7 | 3.2
Arkansas .......................| 5.0 | 7.2 | 2.2
California .....................| 7.1 | 11.6 | 4.5
Colorado .......................| 4.8 | 7.6 | 2.8
Connecticut ....................| 5.5 | 8.0 | 2.5
Delaware .......................| 4.6 | 8.4 | 3.8
District of Columbia ...........| 6.8 | 10.9 | 4.1
Florida ........................| 6.0 | 10.6 | 4.6