California Has the Highest Unemployment Rate in the Nation

About 1 million state workers are jobless, new data show. The tech industry has shed the most jobs, losing 54,200.

A worker installs solar panels on the rooftop of a house in Pomona, Calif., on Oct. 19, 2023. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Newly released data from the state’s Employment Development Department revealed an uptick in California’s unemployment rate to 5.3 percent in February, the highest in the country.

The figure represents a spike from 4.5 percent in February 2023 and is a full percentage point higher than the pre-pandemic rate of 4.3 percent in February 2019.