The Non Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment comparison between California & New York Since January 2000.

As of December 2009, The city of Los Angeles' Unemployment rate dwarfs the city New York's by 27%. Los Angeles City was 13.2% compared to New York's 10.4%.

in 2000 New York & California were neck-in-neck when it came to unemployment rates, as were the cities and counties of Los Angeles & New York Respectively. Quite a bit has changed this decade.