- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Lake County’s unemployment rate edges down, state rate unchanged in December
The Employment Development Department reported that Lake County’s unemployment rate was 5.1% in December, down from the 5.3% rate reported in November.
In December 2021, Lake County’s jobless rate was 5.8%.
The state of California’s unemployment rate in December was 4.1%, the same as November 2022’s rate. The state jobless rate in December 2021 was 5.8%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the national unemployment rate in December 2022 was 3.5%, compared to 3.6% in November and 3.9% in December 2021.
In Lake County in December, the workforce totaled 28,130 individuals, with 1,430 unemployed.
Most industry sectors in Lake County showed drops in job numbers or no change, with the exception of professional and business services, which showed an increase of 2.8%, and retail trade, up by 0.4%.
California payroll jobs totaled 17,761,900 in December 2022, up 16,200 from November 2022 and up 621,400 from September of last year.
The number of Californians employed in December was 18,440,500, a decrease of 20,000 persons from November’s total of 18,460,500, but up 589,500 from the employment total in December, according to the report.
The Employment Development Department said the number of unemployed Californians was 782,300 in December, a decrease of 6,700 over the month and down 312,800 in comparison to December 2021.
Total nonfarm jobs in California’s 11 major industries totaled 17,761,900 in December — a net gain of 16,200 from November. This followed a downward revised (-6,900) month-over gain of 19,900 jobs in November, the state said.
The report said total nonfarm jobs increased by 621,400 (a 3.6% increase) from December 2021 to December 2022 compared to the U.S. annual gain of 4,503,000 jobs (a 3% increase).
The number of jobs in the agriculture industry increased from November by 5,100 to a total of 416,200 jobs in December. The agricultural industry had 4,900 more farm jobs in December 2022 than it did in December a year ago, the state said.
The Employment Development Department said December 2022 marked the 15th consecutive month of nonfarm job gains, which now totals 807,300 jobs over that time period for a monthly average gain of 53,820 jobs.
Year over, California job growth at 3.6% has outpaced the U.S. as a whole at 3% by 0.6 percentage points and the state has 70,000 more jobs than pre-pandemic levels in February 2020.
In other news, nine of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in December with education and health services (+8,200) showing the largest month-over gains thanks to strength in home health care services, residential care facilities, and individual and family services, the Employment Development Department reported.
Construction (+7,500) also enjoyed a strong month-over gain of more than 7,500 jobs thanks, in part, to good gains in specialty trade contractors, the report showed.
The state said trade, transportation and utilities (-11,100) suffered from losses in merchant wholesalers of both durable and nondurable goods, as well as with reductions in retail trade, including health and personal care stores and office supplies, stationary, and gift stores.
Lake County’s unemployment rate last month earned it the No. 41 ranking statewide among the state’s 58 counties.
San Mateo continued to have California’s lowest unemployment rate, 1.9%, while Imperial had the highest, 14.8%.
Lake’s neighboring county jobless rates and ranks were: Colusa, 12.2%, No. 57; Glenn, 5.2%, No. 42; Mendocino, 3.8%, No. 26; Napa, 3%, No. 14; Sonoma, 2.5%, No. 6; and Yolo, 3.6%, No. 22.
In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, there were 326,252 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the December 2022 sample week. That compares to 306,550 people in November and 355,749 people in December 2021.
Concurrently, 41,550 initial claims were processed in the December 2022 sample week, which was a month-over decrease of 6,271 claims from November and a year-over decrease of 7,521 claims from December 2021.
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