Pasadena, California -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/23/2010 -- California’s unemployment rate rose to 12.4 percent in August, with the state losing 33,500 jobs even as most states added jobs. The data comes from the Employment Development Department’s survey of businesses.

There are a total of 2.26 million people unemployed in California, out of whom almost 45 percent have been unemployed for more than six months. If discouraged workers, marginal workers, and part-time workers looking for fulltime jobs are included, the unemployment rate goes up to 24.2 percent. The figure was reached using state-provided data used by the San Francisco Chronicle.

In the Bay Area, 3,800 jobs were cut in August bringing the region’s unemployment rate to 11.8 percent. Although the region lost jobs overall, 1,300 new jobs were created in the tech and professional services sector.

Stephen Levy of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy said that even though the film industry and the tech sector were doing well it was surprising that enough jobs were not being created. The few jobs that were created were in the professional and business services and in the software industry. Michael Bernick, the ex-director of Employment Development Department said that the improved business environment had not translated into more hiring.

Even though news reports are focusing on the bleak jobs scenario for most California residents, Hound, a job search engine has been able to find over 7,500 job listings in just seven days. Most of the jobs are in healthcare (1,953), engineering (637) and financial services (605). The places with most job openings were San Francisco (644), Los Angeles (626), San Jose (349), and Sacramento (323).