LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County’s unemployment rate dropped slightly in December, enough to reach its lowest level since the start of the pandemic.
The Employment Development Department’s latest report said Lake County’s December unemployment rate was 5.7%, down from a final adjusted rate of 5.9% in November and 8.8% in December 2020.
EDD records show that it’s the lowest jobless rate for Lake County since December 2019, when the county reported 5.5% unemployment.
The EDD said California’s overall rate for December was 6.5%, down from 7% in November and 9.3% in December 2020.
On the national level, unemployment in December reached 3.9%, down from 4.2% in December and 6.7% the previous December.
Lake County’s 5.7% rate ranked it No. 40 out of the state’s 58 counties.
Marin had the lowest unemployment rate in December at 2.7%, and the highest, 14.7%, was in Imperial County.
Lake’s neighboring county jobless rates and ranks were: Colusa, 11.9%, No. 57; Glenn, 5.2%, No. 33; Mendocino, 4.6%, No. 24; Napa, 4.1%, No. 15; Sonoma, 3.5%, No. 6; and Yolo, 4.2%, No. 19.
The state’s dashboard of unemployment claims showed Lake County residents filed 496 unemployment claims in December, up from 474 in November. In December 2020, 1,392 unemployment claims were filed in Lake County.
The state’s situation
California’s employers added 50,700 nonfarm payroll jobs to the economy, accounting for nearly 25.5% of the nation’s 199,000 overall jobs gain for the month. Payroll jobs totaling 16,892,300 in December 2021, up from 15,937,900 in December 2020.
The number of Californians employed in December was 17,836,800, an increase of 116,900 persons from November’s total of 17,719,900, and up 879,800 from the employment total in December 2020, the report said.
The EDD said the number of unemployed Californians was 1,238,000 in December, a decrease of 86,800 over the month and down 510,500 in comparison to December 2020.
Since February 2021, California has added 1,034,400 total nonfarm jobs, which averages out to be a gain of 94,036 jobs per month for that time period, the EDD said.
The report said California has seen a year-over record 6% in nonfarm jobs for 2021, which is the largest calendar year increase in the official series data going back to 1990.
The state has now regained 1,946,200, or nearly 72%, of the 2,714,800 jobs that were lost in March and April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ten of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in December with leisure and hospitality (+15,000) leading the way due to significant gains in food services and drinking places.
Professional and business services (+12,000) has regained all of the jobs it lost during the pandemic-induced recession and had good month-over gains in professional, scientific and technical services with computer systems design and related services contributing strongly.
Month-over, no industry sectors lost jobs for the first time since March 2021, according to the report.
In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, the EDD said there were 355,749 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the December 2021 sample week. That compares to 434,676 people in November and 1,007,331 people in December 2020.
Concurrently, 49,071 initial claims were processed in the December 2021 sample week, which was a month-over decrease of 3,645 claims from November and a year-over decrease of 110,021 claims from December 2020.
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Lake County’s jobless rate drops in December
- Elizabeth Larson
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