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California’s record unemployment more than doubled the cost of monthly benefits being paid in the last year to $1.6 billion in April, reports the state Employment Development Department. Payments were $1.5 billion in March. California’s unemployment insurance payments now range from $65 to $475 a week. With all these programs combined, the state is now paying about $77 million a day in unemployment insurance, says Loree Levy, an EDD spokeswoman.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Forty-four states lost jobs in April, led by California where employers slashed 63,700 positions, as the recession took a further toll on U.S. workers. Trailing California in over-the-month job losses were: Texas, which saw 39,500 jobs vanish; Michigan, which lost 38,400 jobs; and Ohio, where payrolls fell 25,200, according to a U.S. Labor Department report issued Friday. California's unemployment rate dipped to 11 percent last month, fifth-highest in the country. Michigan's jobless rate was the highest at 12.9 percent, followed by Oregon at 12 percent, South Carolina at 11.5 percent and Rhode Island at 11.1 percent. As...

The state unemployment rate soared to 11.2 percent in March, the highest since before World War II, leaving a record 2.1 million Californians out of work, according to a report issued Friday. Employment Development Department spokeswoman Patti Roberts said the March figure surpasses the 11 percent rate that occurred during the 1980s recession and brings California close to the jobless level of January 1941, when unemployment stood at about 11.7 percent. Roberts said unemployment is estimated to have been as high as 25 percent during the Great Depression. The highest reliable figure in state archives is the 14.7 percent rate...

Use prohibited so go to link but the same thing was in WSJ this morning and other sources so the title is not copyright violation.

State jobless rate at 25-year high Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, March 20, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO -- The state unemployment rate jumped to 10.5 percent in February, a level not seen since 1983, as employers cut 116,000 payroll jobs in an economic slide that has left 1.95 million Californians out of work. The U.S. unemployment rate for February was 8.1 percent. During the Great Depression unemployment was reckoned as high as 25 percent. The Bay Area job market continued to fare slightly better than the state average but there was considerable variation among the region's three major metropolitan areas....

SACRAMENTO — California's jobless rate climbed to 10.5 percent in February, the second month of double-digit unemployment. ... Sharp declines in construction, manufacturing, finance, trade, transportation, professional services, leisure, health and education are blamed for the losses. ... The state has lost more than 600,000 jobs since February 2008, a 4 percent drop.