Unemployment rises in California

Unfortunately, the people who lost their jobs at Starwood Vacation Ownership's call center here are far from being alone in their plight.

From the wires:

SACRAMENTO (AP)-- State officials say California's unemployment rate jumped to 8.2 percent in October from 7.7 percent in September.

The jobless rate announced Friday by the California Employment Development Department was up from 5.7 percent just a year earlier.

The agency said the number of people unemployed in California topped 1.5 million -- up by 95,000 over the month, and up by 487,000 compared with October last year.

The U.S. unemployment rate also rose in October -- to 6.5 percent.