Not Good: California Unemployment Edges Up For Second Month In A Row

I find it interesting that the news was posted late Friday afternoon, after news cycle for the week was over. The story at the Los Angeles Times was posted at 4:59 pm Friday.

California's employers created 29,100 net jobs in August, but the unemployment rate edged up for the second month in a row, climbing to 8.9% from 8.7% the month before, the state's Employment Development Department reported Friday.

The jobless rate has climbed nearly half a percentage point since June even as employers have added nearly 57,000 jobs to their payrolls during that time.

Friday's data painted a tepid picture of the Golden State's economy, which has hit a soft patch during the summer months, economists said. The labor force has declined by 65,000 people since June.

"The labor market appears to be going sideways," said Robert Kleinhenz, chief economist at Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. "We see a month of improvement and maybe a month of retrenchment, and that's a discouraging story to report."

Wait until O'BamaCare kicks in. Then folks will have real discouraging stories to report. We should start seeing those stories October 15, 2013. There are reasons employers are not hiring: most important -- a) keep overall number of employees below 50 is approaching that threshhold; b) shift full-time to part-time wherever possible.