- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
February jobless rates improve across Lake County, California, the nation
Lake County registered an 8.3-percent unemployment rate in February, down from 8.9 percent in January, according to the Employment Development Department. Lake County’s February 2020 rate was 5.8 percent.
The February jobless rate is the second-lowest Lake County has experienced since the pandemic began last spring. It recorded a 7.4-percent rate in November and October also was 8.3 percent.
The EDD’s report said the state’s overall unemployment rate dropped 0.5 percentage points to 8.5 percent in February as employers gained 141,000 jobs. The February 2020 unemployment rate in California was 4.3 percent.
On the national level, February’s unemployment rate was 6.2 percent, down from 6.3 percent in January. The February 2020 rate ws 3.5 percent.
In Lake County, farming jobs in February were up by 27.5 percent over January and were 1 percent above the previous year, EDD data showed.
Total nonfarm jobs are up by 0.9 percent in a month-over comparison but down by 4.4 percent when compared to last year, based on the data.
Job categories or subcategories showing growth over this time last year include federal government jobs, up 13.3 percent; retail trade, up 4.5 percent; and trade, transportation and utilities, up by 3.2 percent.
All industries and subcategories in Lake County showed positive job growth or no change over the month, with the exception of financial activities, which was down by 3.4 percent, according to the report.
Lake’s neighboring counties’ jobless rates and ranks in the latest report are Colusa, 15.9 percent, No. 57; Glenn, 7.6 percent, No. 25; Napa, 7.1 percent, No. 18; Sonoma, 6.4 percent, No. 8; and Yolo, 6.8 percent, No. 12.
The statewide snapshot
In California, the EDD said December and January combined for a two-month total of 155,400 jobs lost, but February’s gain recovered nearly 91 percent of that loss, the state said.
California has now regained nearly 39 percent of the 2,714,800 total nonfarm jobs lost in March and April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In California payroll jobs totaled 15,998,900 in February 2021, up 141,000 from January 2021 but down from 1,662,000 from February 2020.
The number of Californians with jobs in February was 17,334,300, an increase of 345,600 jobs from January’s total of 16,988,700, but down 1,253,500 from the employment total in February of last year, the report said.
The EDD said the number of unemployed Californians was 1,610,200 in February, a decrease of 69,600 over the month, but up by 764,900 in comparison to February of last year.
Statewide, the number of jobs in the agriculture industry increased by 2,900 from January to 423,100 jobs in February. The agricultural industry had 2,300 more farm jobs in February 2021 than it did the February prior.
Among industries, leisure and hospitality led the gains, with 102,200 new jobs over the month, followed by other services, 14,100; education and health services, 13,000; manufacturing, 8,900; trade, transportation and utilities, 8,200; professional and business services, 5,400; and construction, 600.
Industries that showed declines included government, which the EDD said lost 6,000 jobs, mainly due to reductions in federal government jobs such as census and postal workers; followed by information, -2,800; financial activities, -1.900; and mining and logging, -700.
In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, there were 794,348 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the February 2021 sample week. That compares to 818,589 people in January and 351,766 people in February 2020, EDD said.
Concurrently, EDD said 90,662 initial claims were processed in the February 2021 sample week, which was a month-over increase of 32,285 claims from January, as well as a year-over increase of 55,533 claims from February 2020.
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