*California's employment report: Hurry up and wait

The good news is that September's jobless rate fell a touch - 11.9 percent from 12.1 percent the previous month in California, and 12.4 percent from 12.5 percent in L.A. County. Also worth noting is that the numbers are noticeably lower than in September 2010 - about half a percentage point. But noticeably is different than significantly. At 11.9 percent, California still has the second-highest unemployment rate in the country (Nevada remains number one), and given the stutter-step recovery it could easily be another two years before California even gets into the high single digits (hardly the sign of strong growth). So in a nutshell, the September report does little to alter the state's sluggish prognosis, which, by the way, is more a function of a persistent debt hangover (especially in housing) and a basic economic restructuring than anything the government is or isn't doing. It's the same with L.A., which saw a large number of new payroll jobs last month, but only because of teachers and other school personnel returning to work. Construction was up a little (1,200 jobs from August) and manufacturing was down a little (1.500). Here's the EDD release.

*Somewhat more upbeat take from Beacon Economics:

The decline in the state's unemployment rate is being driven by employment growth, and occurred despite an increase in the number of job seekers. A total of 61,900 people entered California's labor force since August, indicating a renewed confidence in the state's job market. Additionally, the number of unemployed individuals fell by 23,400, leading to a genuine drop in this key measure of the labor market.