LOS ANGELES, Kalifornia (PNN) - March 11, 2010 - For many Kalifornia areas, unemployment rates moved persistently higher in January, indicating that the national economic recovery propagandists keep telling us is taking place hasn't yet translated into jobs for the Golden State.

New county-by-county figures released by the state Wednesday showed that in eight counties, more than 1 in 5 people were out of work. Moreover, revised numbers for last year show that fewer people were employed than was previously believed.

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. Kalifornia's was 12.5% in January, up from 12.3% in December.

"The unemployment rate will be persistently at this high level for at least a few more months," said Esmael Adibi, an economist at Chapman University in Orange.

The unemployment rate for the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro area reached 15% in January, its highest since 1990, the earliest year for which the state has comparable data available. Unemployment in Orange County reached 10.1%, up from 9.1% in December.

The state's revised data for last year showing elevated unemployment show that there is no recovery and the Depression continues unabated.

"The impact on the labor market was much more severe than what we had estimated," Adibi said.