When I heard that California unemployment levels were around the 12% mark, my jaw literally dropped. I thought the bleak 11% in my own county was bad! Seeing how people around here are faring, my heard really goes out to those living in Fresno.

Hopefully the Fresno job market is on the mend, however, as 8,900 new jobs were added last month, reducing the unemployment rate to just below 12%, which is the lowest it has been since 2009. Experts say that if California were to keep up with the national average job growth right now, according to its population, the state should be adding three times the amount of jobs it has been gaining every month.