L.A. jobless rate is unchanged at 11.8%, but payrolls are up

February's 11.8 percent rate is still very high - nearly a full percentage higher than California's jobless rate of 10.9 percent (also unchanged from January). The U.S. unemployment rate in February was 8.3 percent. Somewhat better news: the separate payroll survey shows that L.A. gained 28,900 jobs in February; in all of California, the increase was 4,000. Here's the EDD release.