Cal­i­for­nia unem­ploy­ment rate is worst in the coun­try for sec­ond year in a row

A new jobs report reveals California’s unem­ploy­ment rate in April was 5.3% for the third month in a row.
Cal­i­for­nia pos­sess­es the high­est unem­ploy­ment rate in the coun­try, with the nation­al aver­age being 3.9%. Wash­ing­ton, D.C., was not far behind Cal­i­for­nia, with an unem­ploy­ment rate of 5.2%, and Neva­da was at 5.1%. 
A year ago, California’s rate was 4.5% — though it still ranked as the high­est in the coun­try.  
For­mer Employ­ment Devel­op­ment Depart­ment Direc­tor Michael Ber­nick told the Sacra­men­to Bee that California’s high unem­ploy­ment rate can be attrib­uted to small busi­ness­es strug­gling with high­er prices and tight­ened con­sumer spend­ing, tech lay­offs that are …