LOS ANGELES, July 18 (Xinhua) -- California's unemployment ratecrept up to 6.9 percent in June, a tenth of a percentage point from May to a nearly five-year high, it was announced on Friday.
The latest figure ties California with Mississippi for the third-highest jobless rate among the states, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
California's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate a year earlier stood at 5.3 percent. According to state records, the current unemployment rate is the highest since October 2003.
The number of Californians out of work increased to 1.28 million from 1.26 million as continued layoffs in the construction, financial and manufacturing sectors hammered an already weakened economy, said the bureau.
The jobs picture worsened even more in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan area in June. The unemployment rate jumped to seven percent from 6.7 percent in May, a full 2 percentage points above its level in June 2007.
