国际英语新闻：Unemployment tops 20% in eight California counties

LOS ANGELES, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Unemployment topped 20 percent in eight counties in the U.S. state of California, leading to more than one in five people losing jobs, according to statistics published on Thursday.

Moreover, revised numbers for last year show that fewer people were employed than was previously believed, the Los Angeles Times said.

The state was one of five, along with Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, that reached their highest unemployment rates since the government began keeping track in 1976, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Most counties were still struggling under the burden of joblessness, especially the eight counties where rates were higher than 20 percent. Merced County, for instance, had an unemployment rate of 21.7 percent in January, and Imperial County's rate was 27. 3 percent.

The state's jobless rate of 12.5 percent in January was its worst on record and the fifth highest in the nation.

For many California areas, unemployment rates moved persistently higher in January, indicating that the national economic recovery hasn't yet translated into jobs for the Golden State, the paper said.

The state's revised data for last year showing elevated unemployment indicate that a recovery could take longer than previously predicted, said the paper.

The national unemployment rate in January was 9.7 percent, and the country experienced a strong 5.75-percent annualized increase in gross domestic product in last year's final three months.