California’s unemployment rate edged up from 12.3 in July to 12.4 percent in August, the Employment Development Department reported today. This was driven more by changes in jobs, (losses), rather than changes in labor force. California’s unemployment rate is third highest in the nation behind Michigan and Nevada.

California’s month-on-month non-farm job growth rate worsened from a 0.16 percent fall in July (2 percent annualized) to a 0.24 percent fall (2.9 percent annualized) in August. According to this measure, California has experienced a double-dip in job growth. Month-on-month non-farm job growth was negative from May 2008 to December 2009 (excepting 1 month), then turned positive from January 2010 through May 2010, and has been negative again since June 2010. The year-on-year measure of non-farm job growth rate fell from 0.9 percent in July to 1.0 percent in August.

Most industrial sectors were down in August, whether measured month-on-month or year-on-year. The weaker sectors in August were: construction, manufacturing, trade, information, and government, with the government sector declines the largest at a loss of 9,200 jobs from July to August.

California’s economy will grow slowly due to this weak jobs report. Households will consider purchases carefully due to the lack of a job or the difficulty of finding a job. The current government sector weakness is one that could persist for a long time, and in this case will weaken the jobs recovery whenever it begins.