California job openings fall 30% as unemployment rate is second-worst in country

Job openings in California plunged by nearly 30% over the past year and the state’s unemployment rate ticked higher to remain the second-worst in the country, according to new federal data. The Democrat-run Golden State — — which implemented a controversial $20 minimum wage hike for fast food workers in April — had 641,000 job openings in August, compared to 920,000 in August 2023, the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed. Meanwhile, the year-over-year unemployment rate in September increased to 5.3% from 5% — more than a percentage...