(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-22 08:50

LOS ANGELES - Unemployment rate remained high in California, the most populous state in the United States, but showed signs of declining, according to statistics released on Friday.

State unemployment declined to 5.7 percent from 5.9 percent in January as 26,000 new jobs were created in the month, the California Employment Development Department (CEDD) said.

The biggest gains came in the information sector and the educational and health services category. The steepest decline hit construction, which has been battered by a weak housing market and the sub-prime mortgage meltdown.

In the Los Angeles metropolitan area, unemployment fell to 5.3 percent in February from a revised 5.7 percent in January. That total, though an improvement, was well above 4.7 percent in February of last year.

Los Angeles' biggest growth came in the information category and in educational and the health services. Both sectors gained about 9,000 jobs each. The bulk of the new information jobs resulted from people returning to work after the Writers Guild of America strike.

Statewide, growth in the number of jobs was nearly flat in February compared to 12 months ago. The total number of non- agricultural workers grew by just 8,100 jobs, or 0.1 percent.

"To me, the take-away, year over year, is that job growth has stalled," said Stephen Levy, director and senior economist at the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto, near San Francisco. The data, he said, confirm that California is headed toward a mild recession, and the direction won't change until housing prices come down further and demand for unsold units picks up, he said.

The new employment numbers indicate that the bottom of the housing market might still be a ways off, said Howard Roth, chief economist for the California Department of Finance. "Some of the inventories are being worked down, and that's a good sign," he said. "The builders are now being serious about reducing the price. "