California's Unemployment Rate Decreased to 7.4 Percent in June

The California economy created more than 24,000 jobs in June to lower the unemployment rate to 7.4 percent. That reduced the unemployment rate from 7.6 in May to 7.4 percent last month.

Economists say California’s employment outlook has been trending upward for several months. UCLA Anderson School of Management economist Jerry Nickelsburg says some sectors have shown considerable improvement.

Nickelsburg says the largest growth is “in health care and social services, followed by administrative services and consulting and leisure and hospitality and professional scientific and technical services.”

But, he says industries like manufacturing, construction and financial services lost jobs from May to June.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell slightly to 6.1 percent in June. Nickelsburg says the rapidly changing labor market nationally and in California is creating problems for the long-term unemployed who must update their skills if they’re to be employable.