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By Jim Christie

SAN FRANCISCO, April 17 (Reuters) - California's unemployment rate rose to a record 11.2 percent in March and analysts expect job losses across most industries in the most populous U.S. state to increase through much of this year.

"This is the worst recession since the Great Depression and it's not over," economist Steve Levy said on Friday shortly after the state released its March unemployment report.

"We have at least six more months of job losses," added Levy, of the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy.

At 11.2 percent, California's jobless rate was well above the March national unemployment rate of 8.5 percent and at its highest level since the U.S. government began collecting state unemployment statistics, Levy noted.

California's unemployment rate last month also rose significantly from a revised 10.6 percent in the prior month and 6.4 percent a year earlier as job losses spread across most of the state's industries, Levy said.

He added that California is facing steep job losses at the same time its ranks of prospective workers swell.

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