LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County had a slight increase in its jobless rate last month as the state and federal numbers continued to show improvements.
The Employment Development Department said Lake County’s September unemployment rate was 8.6 percent.
The county’s rate in August was 8.5, 11.7 percent in July, 14.2 percent in June, 15.5 percent in May and 16.7 percent in April. In September 2019, Lake County had a 4-percent jobless rate.
California’s unemployment rate in September was 11 percent, down from 11.2 in August and 3.9 percent the previous September.
The number of Californians holding jobs in September was 16,618,200, an increase of 47,300 jobs from August’s total of 16,570,900, but down 2,082,200 from the employment total in September of last year, the EDD reported.
The state also said that the number of unemployed Californians was 2,058,800 in September, a decrease of 27,900 over the month, but up by 1,300,900 compared with September of last year.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the nationwide unemployment rate in September was 7.9 percent, compared to 8.4 percent in August and 3.5 percent in September 2019.
Lake County’s civilian workforce in September rose slightly to 28,680, up from 28,640 in August.
With the summer pear harvest now over, the total farm job category showed a 27.1-percent decrease over the month, with the total nonfarm category up by 1.8 percent since August, according to the EDD’s report.
Total nonfarm’s main subcategories showed the following numbers: Service producing, 1.9 percent; goods producing, 0.8 percent; total private, 0.1 percent growth over the month; and private service producing, -0.1 percent.
Lake County’s statewide jobless ranking for September was No. 30 out of the state’s 58 counties.
Lake’s neighboring county jobless rates and ranks in the latest report are Colusa, 10.6 percent, No. 49; Glenn, 7.3 percent, No. 12; Napa, 7.6 percent, No. 18; Sonoma, 7.2 percent, No. 10; and Yolo, 7.1 percent, No. 7.
The county with the highest jobless rate last month remained Imperial, at 21.5 percent, while Lassen retained its spot at the No. 1 county for employment, with a 6.3-percent rate reported in September.
A look at the state’s employment picture
The state’s payroll jobs totaled 15,982,300 in September 2020, up 96,000 from August 2020 but down from 1,538,900 from September 2019.
September’s unemployment rate of 11.0 percent marked the second consecutive month since March 2020 that California’s unemployment rate was lower than the 12.3 percent mark set during the height of the Great Recession (March, October and November 2010).
The Employment Development Department said California has now regained more than a third of the 2,615,800 nonfarm jobs lost during March and April as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Total nonfarm jobs decreased by 1,488,900 (an 8.5 percent decrease) from September 2019 to September 2020 compared to the U.S. annual loss of 9,648,000 jobs (a 6.4 percent decrease), the EDD reported.
On the agriculture side, the number of jobs increased by 2,000 from August 2020 to 328,800 jobs in September. The agricultural industry has lost 96,600 farm jobs since September 2019.
Seven of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs last month.
Leisure and hospitality (+48,400) had the largest job gain after experiencing the largest month-over loss in August thanks to large growth in accommodation and food services. The state said month-over growth in trade, transportation and utilities (+30,600) was aided by gains in Retail Trade – specifically Clothing and Clothing Accessory Stores.
The EDD said government (-14,300) posted the largest industry job loss in September with losses in federal government largely due to losses in census worker employment driving the sector’s numbers down.
In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, EDD said there were 2,801,538 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the September 2020 sample week. That compares to 2,837,209 people in August 2020 and 281,060 people in September 2019.
Concurrently, 226,272 initial claims were processed in the September 2020 sample week, which was a month-over increase of 29,417 claims from August 2020 and a year-over increase of 190,944 claims from September 2019, the EDD reported.
The EDD also said that it has processed 15.2 million claims – about four times the number of claims processed in the worst year of the Great Recession (3.8 million in 2010) – over the past seven months, with total wage replacement relief totaling $105 billion paid since March.
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Lake County unemployment up slightly in September; state, federal numbers down
- Elizabeth Larson
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