LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County’s unemployment rate ticked up slightly in August, as did the state and national jobless rates.
The Employment Development Department said Lake County’s unemployment rate in August was 4.4%, up from 4.3% in July and 7.2% in August 2021.
The farm industry’s employment increased by 23.1% in a month-over comparison, while the nonfarm category was up by 2.7%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the national unemployment rate in August was 3.7%, up from 3.5% in July and 5.2% in August 2021.
California’s unemployment rate increased in the month of August 4.1% from 3.9% in July, despite the state’s employers adding 19,900 nonfarm payroll jobs to the economy, according to the Employment Development Department. The August 2021 rate was 7%.
California payroll jobs totaled 17,644,600 in August 2022, up 15,980 from July 2022 and up 677,100 from August of last year.
The number of Californians employed in August was 18,564,600, a decrease of 3,900 persons from July’s total of 18,568,500, but up 855,500 from the employment total in August 2021.
The report showed the number of unemployed Californians was 790,900 in August, an increase of 36,300 over the month, but down 549,300 in comparison to August 2021.
August 2022’s 0.2 percentage point gain is the first time since May of 2020 that California’s unemployment rate saw a month-over increase. It was also the 11th consecutive month of nonfarm job gains, which now totals a 690,000 job gain over that time period.
The state has now regained 98.3% (2,711,600) of the 2,758,900 nonfarm jobs lost during March and April of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Employment Development Department said.
Seven of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in August: Leisure and hospitality; trade, transportation and utilities; professional and business services; education and health services; government; financial activities; and mining and logging.
The “other services” category had no change, while industry sectors that showed declines were manufacturing, construction and information.
Lake County’s unemployment rate earned it the No. 38 ranking statewide among the state’s 58 counties.
San Mateo continued to have California’s lowest jobless rate, 2.1%, while Imperial had the highest, 16.2%.
Lake’s neighboring county jobless rates and ranks were: Colusa, 7.6%, No. 56; Glenn, 4.9%, No. 43; Mendocino, 3.4%, No. 18; Napa and Sonoma, tied at 2.8%, No. 6; and Yolo, 3.4%, No. 18.
In other employment news, the Employment Development Department said that in August there were 310,212 people receiving unemployment insurance benefits, down 6,051 from July 2022 and down 328,764 from August of last year.
Additionally, there were 37,200 new unemployment insurance claims in August 2022, down 2,979 from July 2022 and down 26,353 from August of last year.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
August unemployment up slightly in Lake County, statewide and nationwide
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On