California Has a Drought of Jobs and Water

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought emergency on Friday due to three years of below-average rain and urged Californians to reduce water usage by 20%.

Additionally, the unemployment rate in the state increased to 10.1%, the highest in 26 years and in Los Angeles County it is even worse:

Conditions are even worse in Los Angeles County, which saw its unemployment rate jump to 10.5% in January from 9.2% the month before.

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The outlook for Southern California is considerably worse than the national forecast presented by President Obama's budget team this week because the economy here -- usually considered resilient because of its diversity -- relies on sectors battered by this particular recession, said economist Jack Kyser of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

L.A. County alone, his group projects, will lose 89,000 jobs in 2009, and Kyser suggested the unemployment rate could surpass 10.5% for the year. In the Inland Empire, the group predicts the unemployment rate will rise to 11.1%, while Orange County, which lost 41,400 jobs last year, is projected to see unemployment climb to 7.3%, the highest rate in 16 years. January figures for those counties will be released next month.

Los Angeles County lost a net 41,900 jobs last year and nearly all of them -- about 41,000 -- were in retail, manufacturing and construction, in that order. In January, retail shed 15,100 jobs, manufacturing lost 6,800, and construction, 4,800. The three sectors were caught in the collapse of the housing boom and recession.

To make matters worse, another key California industry -- the film business -- lost 22,300 jobs in January, leading L.A. County layoffs for the month.