California adds nearly 100,000 jobs in February

California's unemployment rate fell to 12.2% in February from 12.4% in January, the California Economic Development Department reports. That's still the second-highest jobless rate in the nation, behind Nevada's.

By Marc Lifsher,
Los Angeles Times
9:33 AM PDT, March 25, 2011

Reporting from Sacramento

Job creation is starting to catch up with other signs that show that California's recession-battered economy is on the mend.

In February, the Golden State added nearly 100,000 new jobs, the highest monthly increase since the current record system began in 1990, state officials said Friday. In January, the state reported a revised total of only 700 new jobs that were created.

The February unemployment rate dropped by two-tenths of a percentage point, to 12.2% from 12.4% in January, the California Economic Development Department reported.

The increase of 96,500 jobs was the largest month-over-month jump of any state in the nation, the government said. The number of new jobs created in February alone was almost as high as the total created for the previous 11 months, 99,800, the EDD said.

(More here.)