Unemployment in the state was 6.8 percent in May…..that’s up from 6.2 percent in April. And it’s a big jump compared to May of 2007, when the rate was 5.3 percent. The State Department of Employment Development says the state lost nearly 11-thousand non-farm jobs from April to May. Most of those were in construction. Howard Roth is Chief Economist with the State Department of Finance. He says California’s facing challenges such as a slumping housing sector and high gas prices….but there is hope: “We need to remember that this housing sector downturn will be over in the next year or two and once that turns we won’t have that big drag on our economy anymore and the numbers will start to look better.” Roth says in the short-term he does expect unemployment to continue its upward trend. In May more than 1.2 million Californians were unemployed.