Latest State Employment Numbers: Slightly More Abysmal than Before

​We know you've been sitting in the closest, in the dark, refusing food and ignoring the increasingly desperate pleas of friends and family to Please, just come out! Not until I get my next installment of the Employment Development Department's monthly labor statistics, you told yourself resolutely, chewing thoughtlessly on the cuff of a coat that was hanging nearby. Well, weep no longer! Like the season opener of a hotly anticipated HBO show, they have finally arrived!

Things have ever-so-slightly gotten worse, people! But don't worry; by slightly, we mean really slightly. The unemployment rate for the San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City Metropolitan Division was 9.9 percent in March, which is a 0.4 increase over February's 9.5 percent. We're still sticking it to the state as a whole though, which boasts a 13-percent unemployment rate (egad!).

San Francisco county boasted a 10.3-percent unemployment rate and San Mateo County a 9.8-percent unemployment rate. The folks over in Marin County are still smiling smugly over their monocles at us, with the knowledge that their unemployment rate is only 8.8-percent tucked neatly behind the immaculately folded hankies in their jacket pockets.

Most jobs were gained in education, government, leisure, and hospitality and the mysterious "professional and business services." Food service and entertainment jobs also increased. But there were 300 jobs lost in trade, transportation, and utilities "due to continued post-holiday layoffs at stores." People, Mother's Day is coming up. Surely we can find something for these workers to do?

All right, run out and stimulate the economy by purchasing more tissues to wipe your pathetic tears away before you head back into the closet. Until next months, fans!