- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Lake County unemployment dips in January
The California Employment Development Department’s latest jobless report showed that Lake County’s unemployment rate in January was 6.7%, up from 5.4% in December and 6.6% in January 2022.
California’s overall unemployment rate for January was 4.2%, up slightly from 4.1% in December but still much improved over the 5.2% statewide rate in January 2022.
The federal unemployment rate was 3.4% in January, compared to 3.5% in December and 4% the previous January.
Lake County’s workforce in January totaled 26,630 individuals, with 1,920 unemployed. That’s compared to 26,710 workers and 1,510 unemployed in December, and 27,150 workers and 1,920 unemployed a year ago January.
Total farm jobs were up by 35.6% percent in January over December, with farm jobs rising from 450 in December to 610 January. While January’s numbers were an improvement over December, they are down by 31.5% percent from January 2022, when there were 890 farm jobs.
Total nonfarm jobs were down 0.7% in January compared to December. In January there were 16,030 jobs compared to 16,150 in December. January 2023 actually was an improvement by 0.3% over January 2022, when there were 15,990 jobs.
Most job sectors in Lake County showed declines or stayed flat. The only area to show some growth was private education and health services, which was up by 1.3%.
The report said California’s unemployment rate was up despite the fact that the state’s employers added 96,700 nonfarm payroll jobs to the economy.
Employed Californians in January totaled 18,503,400, an increase of 21,300 persons from December’s total of 18,482,100 and up 297,600 from the employment total in January 2022.
At the same time, the number of unemployed Californians was 813,800 in January, an increase of 23,500 over the month, but down 180,400 in comparison to January 2022, the report said.
California payroll jobs totaled 17,996,400 in January 2023, up 96,700 from December 2022 and up 599,500 from January of last year, the Employment Development Department said.
Total nonfarm jobs increased by 599,500 — a 3.5% increase — from January 2022 to January 2023 compared to the U.S. annual gain of 4,967,000 jobs, a 3.3% increase.
The Employment Development Department also reported that updated data shows California fully recovered its nearly 2.8 million pandemic related job losses earlier in June 2022 rather than October 2022 as originally estimated, and the peak unemployment rate of 16.1% hit earlier in April 2020 rather than May.
Of the 517,000 jobs gained nationally in January 2023, California accounted for 96,700, or nearly 19%, of the nation’s overall non-farm job growth, the state reported.
The report said the number of jobs in the agriculture industry decreased from December by 2,400 to a total of 434,400 jobs in January. The agricultural industry had 21,000 more farm jobs in January 2023 than it did in January 2022.
The Employment Development Department reported that eight of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in January with government, up by 46,000, leading the way with strong gains in state government educational services, boosted by the end of the University of California academic workers strike in December.
Leisure and hospitality, up by 20,800, also enjoyed an extremely strong month-over gain thanks, in part, to very good gains in not just gambling industries, but also in performing arts, spectator sports, and talent and sports agents, the report said.
Construction suffered California’s largest month-over job loss for January 2023 due, down 7,300 jobs. That’s due in part, to the severe winter storms and extreme weather across the state, as well as from reductions in the specialty trade contractors subsector, the report said.
Lake County’s unemployment rate last month ranked it No. 42 statewide among the state’s 58 counties.
San Mateo had the lowest unemployment rate in the state, 2.6%, while Colusa had the highest, 17.5%.
Lake’s neighboring county jobless rates and ranks were: Colusa, 17.5%, No. 58; Glenn, 7.1%, No. 43; Mendocino, 5.4%, No. 28; Napa, 3.9%, No. 11; Sonoma, 3.6%, No. 7; and Yolo, 5%, No. 27.
In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, the Employment Development Department said there were 368,865 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the January 2023 sample week.
That compares to 326,252 people in December and 412,738 people in January 2022.
At the same time, 48,150 initial claims were processed in the January 2023 sample week, which was a month-over increase of 6,600 claims from December, but a year-over decrease of 6,249 claims from January 2022.
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.