State’s Economy Flat, Figures Show

California’s economy has settled into stasis, neither growing nor shrinking significantly, according to several reports released Friday.

The state’s unemployment rate dipped to 6.6% in March from a revised 6.7% in February, the Employment Development Department said.

A survey of company payrolls found that the state lost 4,100 jobs in March, the agency said.

On the up side, revenue collected by the state in the form of personal income tax withholding payments climbed by more than 5% in each of the last two months compared with the year-earlier period, said Howard Roth, chief economist for the California Department of Finance.

“But for the most part, what I am seeing is a flat economy,” Roth said.

Though the state’s unemployment rate dipped last month, it still stands almost a percentage point above the nation’s 5.8% jobless rate.

State employment officials said the latest figures continued a pattern they have seen throughout much of the year, during which the jobless rate has settled into a relatively narrow range of 6.2% to 6.7%.

The officials were largely unconcerned about the seasonally adjusted loss of payroll jobs.

“The payroll job loss of 4,100 is minimal in terms of total payroll employment in California of over 14.47 million jobs,” said Michael Bernick, the EDD’s director.

The survey of households found that the number of Californians holding jobs in March rose to nearly 16.5 million, a record high for the state, Bernick said.

He noted that the number of unemployed derived from the survey -- 1,159,000 -- was at its lowest since May.

The unemployment rate in Los Angeles County fell to 6.3% in March from 6.7% the previous month. Unlike the state and national statistics, neither figure is adjusted for seasonal changes in the workforce.

Orange County’s jobless rate fell to an unadjusted 3.8% from 4%. Only San Luis Obispo County, with 3.4%, and Marin County, with 3.7%, had lower unemployment rates. The rate in Ventura County slid to 4.9% from 5.3%.

Riverside County’s rate was 5.7%, down from 5.9%, and San Bernardino County’s rate dipped to 5.5% from 5.7%. San Diego County’s rate held steady at 4.3%.

Statewide, construction payrolls continue to rise, gaining 8,400 jobs in March. And in a bright spot for the technology industry, information company payrolls rose by 1,700 jobs last month, ending a string of three consecutive months of losses, the EDD said.

Government employees took a hit last month, with 4,100 jobs lost, in part because of cuts in state and local government resulting from California’s budget crisis.

“That’s the reverse of the trend of job gains in government due to public education and local government that we have seen over the past four years,” Bernick said.

Other industries experiencing sizable job losses included trade, transportation and utilities, which lost 5,600 positions, and professional and business services, which lost 9,300 jobs.

For the first three months of the year, nonfarm employment in the state increased by 9,200 jobs, thanks to a big gain in January.

As in March, the unemployment rate and the number of payroll jobs occasionally move in opposite directions because they are based on separate studies. The jobless rate is based on a monthly survey of households. The payroll number relies on data from companies.