Southland

Revised Job Figures Due: Just how bad was the recent recession for the Southland and the rest of the state? As far as jobs go, things weren’t as bad as orginally thought, according to figures expected to be released this week. The California Employment Development Dept. is due to announce its new “benchmark” report, an annual exercise in which officials use payroll tax records to correct past job-market estimates. The report is expected to show that instead of losing 143,200 non-farm jobs in 1993, the state’s employment total actually was stable. For 1994, the report is expected to show that the state gained roughly 150,000 non-farm jobs, far more than the scant, previously estimated increase of 16,800. Los Angeles County is expected to show one of the biggest upward revisions.