The latest figures from the state's Employment Development Department put California's unemployment rate at 11-point-nine percent for April. That's down a bit from 12 percent in March. But the state only created about nine-thousand jobs last month. Esmael Adibi is an economist with Chapman University. He says part of the problem is the unsettled state budget situation:
"The fact that we don't have a budget - we don't know what
the direction of taxes are going to be is adding uncertainty - you
know - overshadows the entire economy."
Adibi says the major drags on California's economy continue to
be the construction and mortgage industries. He says he
expects job growth to pick up slowly this year - but notes the
state's recovery will lag behind the nation as a whole.
