California’s 10.5 percent rate in February was much higher than the U.S. rate of 8.1 percent. A year earlier, U.S. unemployment stood at 4.8 percent,
so the U.S. rate rose 3.3 points, compared to California’s increase of 4.3 points.
During the past 30 years, the California unemployment rate has been consistently above the national average even when the state
economy was strong, but the gap between California and U.S. has rarely been as large as it is now.
