LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – California’s unemployment rate remained unchanged in February, but Lake County has seen a late-winter improvement and national numbers also edged down.
The California Employment Development Department’s latest jobs report said California’s unemployment rate remained at 4.2 percent. The state’s February 2018 unemployment rate was 4.3 percent. The unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,100 California households.
Lake County’s February jobless rate was 6.1 percent, compared to 6.6 percent in January but up from the 5.8 percent rate in February 2018.
On the national level, unemployment was at 3.8 percent in February, down from 4 percent in January and 4.1 percent the previous year.
The U.S. unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 3.8 percent, and the nation’s employers added 20,000 nonfarm payroll jobs.
The report said California’s employers added 14,600 nonfarm payroll jobs in February, and the state has now gained a total of 3,133,100 jobs since the economic expansion began in February 2010.
Nonfarm payroll jobs in California totaled 17,322,700 in February, according to a survey of 80,000 California businesses that measures jobs in the economy. The year-over change from February 2018 to February 2019 shows an increase of 222,500 jobs, up 1.3 percent.
The federal household survey, done with a smaller sample than the survey of employers, showed an increase in the number of employed Californians over the month and the year, according to the report.
That survey estimated the number of Californians holding jobs in February was 18,758,000, an increase of 17,800 from January and up 318,000 from the employment total in February of last year.
The report also said the number of unemployed Californians was 824,200 in February – an increase of 6,600 over the month and down by 13,500 compared with February of last year.
Industry details across the state showed the following:
– Six of 11 industry sectors added a total of 30,900 jobs in February. Professional and business services reported the largest increase with a gain of 12,500 jobs. Also adding jobs over the month were leisure and hospitality, trade, transportation and utilities, educational and health services, government and information.
– Five of California industries reported job losses over the month, with construction reporting the largest decrease with a loss of 7,700 jobs while manufacturing had a loss of 5,400 jobs. Other sectors losing jobs over the month were financial activities, other services, and mining and logging.
– In a year-over-year comparison, February 2018 to February 2019, nonfarm payroll employment in California increased by 222,500 jobs, a 1.3-percent increase.
– Ten of California’s eleven industry sectors added a total of 227,700 jobs over the year. The largest job gains were in professional and business services, up 71,700 (a 2.7 percent increase) and educational and health services, up 65,200 jobs (a 2.4 percent increase). Other sectors adding jobs over the year were leisure and hospitality, government, trade, transportation and utilities, manufacturing, information, construction, other services, and mining and logging.
– The only industry that posted a year-over decline was financial activities with a job loss of 5,200.
Also in the report is the update on Unemployment Insurance claims. Approximately 389,449 people received regular Unemployment Insurance benefits during the February survey week, compared with 376,402 in January and 396,030 in February of last year.
The state said that, at the same time, new claims for Unemployment Insurance were 34,593 in February, compared with 51,544 in January and 31,291 in February of last year.
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Lake County jobless rate drops in February; state remains unchanged, national numbers improve
- Elizabeth Larson
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