California Unemployment Rate Continues To Drop, So Does Workforce

The state unemployment rate stayed on its general post-recession course. Unemployment dipped to 5.7 percent, down a tenth of a percent from October.

But that’s in part due to people dropping out of the state’s overall civilian labor force—people actively working or seeking work. The trend began this summer, after four years of steady growth.

In November, California created only 5,500 new non-farm jobs, compared to more than 200,000 for the nation as a whole. The state labor force contracted again, although only by about 2,000 workers.

California still has about 90,000 more people in the workforce than it did at the same time last year.