LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The unemployment rate in California is expected to top the national rate of 9.1 percent when figures for July are released in coming weeks — a rate that doesn’t count the long-term unemployed who have given up their job hunt altogether.

KNX 1070′s John Brooks reports the state jobless rate in June was 11.8 percent with an estimated 728,000 people out of work at least a year.

Actual unemployment numbers are worse than the official rate since when unemployed workers are no longer accounted for when they stop looking for work.

One middle-aged woman still looking said she can’t even land an interview, much less a full-time job.

“This is the first time in my whole life I’ve ever had to search for a job,” she said. “It’s very strange because you no longer hand a resume any more, it’s all online.”

In Los Angeles, employment peaked in March 2007 when about 5.6 million people had jobs. Since then, over 500,000 jobs have been lost.
Economists say the unemployment rate in California for July won’t show much improvement when it comes out .

Dr. Nancy Sidhu, chief economist with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, warns July could also be worse she says if all the government job cuts start showing up in the new fiscal year.

“I think we’re not creating enough yet new jobs to make a dent in the unemployment rate,” she said, adding that private sector jobs in technology, trade and tourism could show some improvement.