BRIEFCASE.Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services Unemployment down from June The seasonally adjusted Seasonally adjusted Mathematically adjusted by moderating a macroeconomic indicator (e.g., oil prices/imports) so that relative comparisons can be drawn from month to month all year. unemployment rate Unemployment Rate The percentage of the total labor force that is unemployed but actively seeking employment and willing to work.Notes: From 1948 to 2004, the monthly U.S. unemployment rate has ranged between about 2.5% to 10.8%, averaging approximately 5.6%. The unemployment rate is considered a lagging indicator, confirming but not foreshadowing long-term market trends. for Los Angeles County fell to 4.5 percent in July, down from 4.6 percent in June, state officials reported Friday. The July unemployment rate was lower than the 5 percent rate in the same month last year, according to the Employment Development Department. The seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate was 4.8 percent in July, down from 4.9 percent in June and down from 5.3 percent in July 2005. The comparable estimates for the nation were 4.8 percent in July, 4.6 percent in June and 5 percent a year ago. Between June and July, total nonfarm employment declined by 41,200 jobs to reach 4.03 million in Los Angeles County. The end of the school year was responsible for the majority of the employment drop over the month, the state said, with local government education losing 26,100 jobs while educational services dropped by 5,100 jobs. Local gas prices nearly unchanged Los Angeles-area gasoline prices were virtually unchanged this week, continuing a monthlong trend, the Automobile Club of Southern California reported Friday. The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles area stood at $3.233 Friday morning -- one-tenth of a cent less than last week and 5 cents less than last month but 44 cents more than at this time last year, the Auto Club reported. The average price fell 1 cent from July 14-21, 1.7 cents from July 21-28, 2.4 cents from July 28-Aug. 4 and nine-tenths of a cent from Aug. 4-11 after three weeks of rising prices. Prudhoe Bay Prudhoe Bay, inlet of the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean, N Alaska, in the Alaska North Slope region, east of the Colville River delta. In 1968 one of the largest oil reserves in North America was discovered in Prudhoe Bay. The ensuing trans-Alaskan oil pipeline built there connects Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, Alaska. Despite the harsh climate, drilling activity and the oil industry have led to increasing development and settlement of the Prudhoe Bay area. production at half ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- BP PLC on Friday said it had restored half of the production from Prudhoe Bay, nearly two weeks after threatening to shut the entire field down because of leaks from corroded pipelines. ``The western operating area has now been restored to production of over 200,000 barrels per day,'' BP Alaska President Steve Marshall told a joint Alaska Senate and House Resources Committee conducting a hearing on the shutdown. The discovery of leaks and corroded pipe prompted the company to begin shutting down the nation's largest oil field on Aug. 6. That threatened to take 400,000 barrels -- about half the current output by all fields in the Alaskan North Slope and 8 percent of domestic production -- out of production. But testing of pipelines on the western side of Prudhoe Bay prompted the British operator to keep that side open. It had been producing about 150,000 barrels until Marshall's announcement. |
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