Business torrents

California’s jobless rate surged in February to the highest level since 1983 while unemployment in Oregon and Nevada climbed above 10 percent for the first time in more than two decades.

Unemployment in California rose to 10.5 percent from 10.1 percent in January, its Employment Development Department reported today in Sacramento. Neighboring Oregon’s jobless rate rose a full percentage point to 10.8 percent, and Nevada’s increased to 10.1 percent.

“The West Coast is more heavily dependent on real estate and the decline there has been more pronounced” than in the rest of the U.S., said Sung Won-Sohn, an economics professor at California State University-Channel Islands in Camarillo, California. “We are not seeing any signs of stabilization in the job market.”

Unemployment across the nation may top 9 percent by the end of the year, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg, and it could go higher. The national jobless rate rose to 8.1 last month, the highest in more than a quarter century, and the economy has lost 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.

At least 19 states have so far reported individual employment figures for February. The rest of the states will be reporting through the end of next week and the Labor Department in Washington will collate the figures on March 27.

Bernanke on Unemployment

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said during congressional testimony March 10 that it was “certainly within the realm of possibility” that average unemployment nationwide could rise above 10 percent and stay there for a period of time.

While that outcome isn’t the “central tendency” of Fed forecasters, the central bank is using that level in an adverse scenario model that will determine whether banks need more capital, Bernanke said.

California lost an additional 116,000 jobs in February, led by 31,000 drop in construction, the state’s employment office said no teletrack payday loans. Its jobless rate is up from 6.2 percent in February 2008.

Traffic in the port of Long Beach, California, fell 40 percent in February to its lowest level in five years, the port reported, reflecting the decline in U.S. trade with Asia.

Port Slump

“The numbers are now showing what we’ve been seeing for the past few months — fewer ships, fewer containers and most troubling, less work for those in port-related businesses,” Executive Director Richard Steinke said in a statement.

National Semiconductor Corp. plans to cut more than 1,700 jobs, about a fourth of its workforce, as the recession eats into sales at the mobile-phone maker, the Santa Clara, California-based company said last week in a statement.

“The worldwide recession has impacted National’s business as demand has fallen considerably,” Chief Executive Officer Brian Halla said.

Consumer-goods companies are cutting staff as demand weakens across the globe. Beaverton, Oregon-based Nike Inc., the world’s largest athletic-shoe maker, may cut up to about 1,400 jobs to reduce costs, the company said last month.

“In light of the current economic climate, it is more essential than ever to sharpen our focus on the consumer,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Parker said in the statement.

Georgia’s jobless rate rose to 9.3 percent, the highest since records began in 1976, from 8.5 percent, the state reported. Ohio’s climbed to 9.4 percent from 8.8 percent, and Wisconsin’s increased to 8.8 percent from 7.7 percent. The state employment numbers are usually reported a couple of weeks after the national figures.

Unemployment rose to 7.5 percent in Pennsylvania from 7 percent, and Tennessee’s rate rose to 9.1 percent from 8.6 percent, the states reported.

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