California’s unemployment rate is second highest in the nation

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California’s unemployment rate was second highest in the nation in December, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Tuesday morning. Only Nevada (14.5%) had a higher unemployment rate than California’s 12.5%.

Other interesting tidbits from the release: New York lost a whopping 22,800 jobs in December, Minnesota lost 22,400 and Florida shed 17,000. California added 4,900, although that number is not considered statistically significant.

Although the above map may seem gloomy, there was some good news in the release. Many states saw significant declines in their unemployment rates in 2010. Michigan’s unemployment rate fell 2.8 percentage points, to 11.7%. South Carolina’s fell 1.7 percentage points, to 10.7%. In total, 13 states reported statistically significant unemployment rate decreases over the year, the BLS said. California, whose unemployment rate was 12.3% last year, was not one of them.

-- Alana Semuels