California's unemployment rate rose to 10.1 percent in January, its highest level in a quarter century, as recession tightened its grip on the most populous U.S. state. Weakness in the housing and consumer sectors helped drive the jobless rate up from a revised 8.7 percent in December and 6.1 percent in January 2008 and to above the national average in January of 7.6 percent, state officials said on Friday. Economist Jon Haveman of the consulting firm Beacon Economics said he expects California's jobless rate will climb to the mid-10 percent range and settle there for much of this year. "It's...
