SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California's unemployment rate nearly tripled to 15.5% in April as the nation's most populous state lost more jobs in one month from the coronavirus than it did during the Great Recession a decade ago, state data released Friday showed.
Just two months ago, California was boasting an unprecedented economic expansion as it added more than 3.4 million jobs over 10 years, accounting for 15% of the nation's job growth.
More than two-thirds of those gains were wiped out last month as the state lost 2.3 million jobs. California accounted for 11.4% of all jobs lost nationwide in April as the unemployment rate jumped 10.2 percentage points since March, the largest one month rise since 1976 when the state began using its