(The jobless rate)...It began the year slightly higher, than how it ended last year.

January is the latest unemployment rate available. The numbers were released Friday morning. The Unemployment Report is provided by the Labor Market Information Division of the Employment Development Department. According to the latest report, unemployment in January was 15.6 Percent. That is up from a revised 14 percent in December of last year, and below the year ago estimate of 17.3%. This compares to an unadjusted unemployment rate of 5.5% for the state, and 4.4% for the nation during the same period. According to the report there were 11,100 eligible workers unemployed in January out of a labor force of 71,000.