The state's unemployment rate started out the year at 12.5 percent. Now, it's down to 12.0 percent, after dropping a tenth of a point from February to March.
Levenson: "That is a real improvement and one that we should not be ashamed of. It is, unfortunately, still extremely high unemployment."
Alec Levenson is a labor economist at USC's Marshall School of Business.
Levenson: "Yes, we are creating jobs, but we're not creating them at anywhere near the pace we need to."
In fact, the state actually shed jobs last month - down 11,600, after adding nearly 100,000 in February. But don't take any individual month's stats too seriously. Instead, Levenson says, look to the general trend, which shows steady-but-far-too-slow progress.