Pasadena, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/03/2010 -- California has 10 out of the 12 metro areas having an unemployment rate of 15 percent and above. One of its metro areas, the El Centro metropolitan area, has an unemployment rate of 27.6 percent; the highest in the country. The data has been gathered from the Labor Department.

California has been hard hit because of layoffs in the construction sector, where over 74,000 workers where laid in the last 12 months. The construction industry in California has shed over 400,000 workers in the last four years. Job losses in the El Centro metro area, which borders Mexico, is also mainly because of the downturn in the construction industry because of which there are several homes and commercial spaces lying unfinished.

The other California cities with unemployment rates of 15 percent and above in June were: Yuba, Merced, Modesto, Stockton, and Fresno. While these mostly agricultural regions did not have a lot of jobs in the construction and related industries, there were other opportunities. Hound, a search engine for jobs, was able to compile a list of over 52,000 jobs throughout the state.

The counties with the most job openings include: Irvine (1137), Long Beach (1232), Oakland (1290), Sacramento (2543), Los Angeles (3306), San Jose (2405), and San Francisco (4733).