California unemployment rate hits 6.2% in March

SACRAMENTO -- California's unemployment rate hit 6.2% in March, the highest level in almost four years, spurred by a continuing downturn in construction and financial activities.

The Employment Development Department reported Friday that 1.13 million people were out of work last month, marking the state's weakest economic performance since July 2004, when the jobless rate also stood at 6.2%.

Unemployment is up 1.2 percentage points from a year earlier, with 229,000 more Californians looking for work than in March 2007.

Since then, the job outlook has darkened as a largely housing-related slowdown has cut into the net worth of consumers, forcing them to cut back spending, economists said.