The Business Week Ahead : LOS ANGElES COUNTY

A Look at Jobs: Is Los Angeles County’s job market falling apart again even as the employment situation improves overall in California? The picture may become clearer on Friday with the release of September employment statistics for both the state and the county. The August figures showed the county’s always-volatile jobless rate rising to 8.6%, up from 8.4% in July and the highest level since January’s 8.9%. For California as a whole, on the other hand, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate edged down to 7.8% from 7.9% in July, as the state added an impressive 28,400 jobs. One possible explanation for the downbeat Los Angeles news: The county figures, which aren’t adjusted for seasonal trends, reflect a large number of teachers who were taken off school payrolls during the summer. Those who return to work in September could help brighten the latest figures. Then again, the county may once more be lagging the rest of the state.