On Jun 21, 2008, at 8:18 PM, Steven L. Robinson wrote:
> Economists cautioned that California's exploding unemployment rate
> may have
> been a statistical fluke that exaggerated the extent of the damage
> to the
> state's labor market.
>
> The labor force showed unusual growth during the month, possibly
> because of
> large numbers of graduates leaving school and looking for work,
> they said.
> That could have skewed the jobless rate because the new workers
> would have
> been classified as unemployed until they got hired.
This repeats the controversy when the national numbers came out for May. At first, a number of analysts thought it was all about kids - a seasonal adjustment issue that badly compensated for the influx of summer vacationers and graduates into the job market. But adult unemployment rates were also up sharply, even if less than the dramatic teen/young adult figures. The unemployment jump may be partly reversed when the June numbers come out, but not fully.
Doug