California’s unemployment rate soars, but worst yet to come
California lost nearly 100,000 jobs in March, signaling a sudden end to a record 10-year streak of job growth because of a coronavirus outbreak that has shuttered nonessential businesses and sent more than 2.7 million residents to the unemployment office.The unemployment rate in the nation’s most populous state is now 5.3%, a 1.4 percentage point increase that is the largest rate increase on record since 1976, when state officials began using the current formula for tracking job losses.Still, the numbers are just a glimpse of the pain people are already suffering. The job losses were based on a survey taken the week that included March 12. That was one day after the NBA suspended its season and Gov. Gavin Newsom banned gathering of more than 250 people, prompting the closure of D