LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County’s unemployment rate showed another drop in May, as state and federal jobless numbers also showed improvement.
The California Employment Development Department, or EDD, said Lake County’s preliminary May jobless rate was 6.9%, down from 7.5% in April.
The May 2020 unemployment rate for Lake County, when the impacts of the pandemic peaked in the jobless rate, was 14.2%, based on EDD data.
Last month, California’s statewide unemployment rate was 7.9%, down from 8% in April. The state’s jobless rate was 15.6% in May 2020, the EDD reported.
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics said May’s nationwide unemployment rate was 5.8%, down from 6.1% in April and 13.3% in May 2020.
In Lake County in May, the “total farm” jobs category had a 27.8% increase over April, and was 0.9% down in a year-over comparison to May 2020, the only job category to be down when compared to this time last year.
Other sectors that showed double-digit growth over April were wholesale trade, 22.2%, and federal government jobs, 17.6%.
FInancial activities increased by 9.4%, state government by 5.3%, and leisure and hospitality, 4.6%.
Only one job sector in Lake County showed a decline in May: Business and professional services was down by 1.4%.
Lake County’s May jobless rate ranked it No. 32 out of California’s counties. Marin had the lowest unemployment at 4.3% while Imperial County had the highest jobless rate, 15.9%.
Lake’s neighboring counties had the following jobless rates and ranks for May: Colusa, 11.2%, No. 57; Glenn, 6.3%, No. 24; Mendocino, 5.9%, No. 20; Napa, 5.5%, No. 13; Sonoma, 5.3%, No. 8; and Yolo, 5.6%, No. 15.
The EDD said California’s employers gained 104,500 non-farm payroll jobs in May, with payroll jobs statewide totaling 16,352,900, compared to the 15,132,700 reported in May 2020.
Of the 2,714,800 jobs lost in March and April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the EDD said California has now regained 1,406,800 — or 51.8% — with a third of those jobs (468,000) coming from the hard-hit leisure and hospitality industry.
The number of Californians employed in May was 17,418,000, an increase of 39,500 jobs from April’s total of 17,378,500 and up 1,888,700 from the employment total in May of last year, the EDD reported.
The EDD said the number of unemployed Californians was 1,489,600 in May, a decrease of 27,100 over the month and down 1,373,600 in comparison to May of last year.
In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, the EDD said there were 569,512 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the May 2021 sample week. That compares to 579,498 people in April and 2,154,692 people in May 2020.
Concurrently, the EDD said 71,259 initial claims were processed in the May 2021 sample week, which was a month-over decrease of 7,381 claims from April and a year-over decrease of 132,329 claims from May 2020.
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