California's unemployment rate fell to 10.1 percent last month as job growth perked up substantially, state officials said today.
Employers added 45,800 jobs in October, the Employment Development Department reported. In addition, September's previously reported job gains were revised upward significantly, to 32,000. The unemployment rate fell a tenth of a percent.
Dennis Meyers, principal economist with the state Department of Finance, said the job gains were across the board and signified that California so far is weathering the slowdown in the global economy.
"Once again, we've made it through another mid-year slowdown," he said.
He said the state has averaged nearly 32,000 new jobs a month the past six months. That's "the fastest pace of job growth...since March 2001," he said. "We're getting back to a pre-recession pace."
Sacramento's job market took a small step backwards, however. Unemployment went up a tenth of a point, to 9.8 percent, as the region added just 100 jobs.
Justin Wehner, labor market consultant with EDD, said the results were largely seasonal. Government employment perked up as teachers continued to return to work, he said. Those gains were offset by layoffs at hotels and restaurants as the summer season ended, he said.
The Sacramento economy is likely to take a fresh, if relatively small, hit as Hostess Brands Inc. announced today it is going out of business. The company employs nearly 300 workers in the Sacramento area.
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