L.A. jobs picture worsens

The county lost a whopping 37,400 payroll jobs from June to July, way worse than the statewide loss of 9,400. But it's not quite as bad as it looks - most of the job losses came from seasonal declines in education and the phasing out of federal Census positions. The bigger problem was the limited job gains. Weirdly, the industry having the largest month-to-month increase was construction (1,900 jobs), but much of that came from public works projects that are often scheduled well in advance. Most of the sectors I checked out were either flat or down. Meanwhile, July's unemployment rate in L.A. County rose to 12.4 percent from 12.2 percent the previous month. Earlier, we posted that the state jobless rate was unchanged at 12.3 percent. To sum up the report, it's really more of the same.