(From the L.A. Times) California’s employment misery continued in November, as employers sliced 10,200 more workers from their payrolls. The statewide unemployment rate fell slightly to 12.3% last month from 12.5% in October, according to figures released Friday by the Employment Development Department, but only because thousands of discouraged workers have left the labor force or even moved out of state.In some areas of California, including depressed urban neighborhoods in Los Angeles, 1 in 5 people in the labor force is out of work. The fallout from prolonged unemployment is pounding those regions as businesses close, homes tumble into foreclosure and frustration mounts.

In Los Angeles County, where unemployment fell to 12.4% in November from 12.7% in October, South Los Angeles areas such as Florence-Graham and Westmont and cities such as Compton are still posting unemployment rates over 20%.

Read more here: California’s unemployment rate shrinks – but so do the number of jobs