California unemployment falls despite tepid job growth

California job growth slowed to a crawl last month, state officials reported Friday, suggesting a slowdown in the economy.

Payrolls across the state grew by just 3,700 jobs in December, the Employment Development Department said.

The unemployment rate did fall a tenth of a percentage point, to 5.2 percent. But economists generally look at the payroll jobs figure, which is calculated from a separate survey, as a more reliable barometer of the economic climate.