California’s unemployment rate shows slight increase

California’s unemployment rate increased slightly in May to 6.4 percent, the first such bump in nearly five years, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday. The figure rose from 6.3 percent in April even as the agency said strong job growth continued in May.

“It looks like the underlying cause is there was a large surge of people into the labor force and the labor market couldn’t quite accommodate them all,” department spokesman Kevin Callori said. “It’s the start of the summer hiring season, so it does indicate there’s a newfound optimism.”

The trend in the Northern San Joaquin Valley was slightly better.

Stanislaus County’s unemployment rate was 9.6 percent in May compared with 9.7 percent in April and 11.1 percent a year ago. In Merced County, the May rate was 11.1 percent compared with 11.4 percent in April and 12.4 percent a year ago. In San Joaquin County, the rate was 8.6 percent in May, 8.7 percent in April and 10.1 percent a year ago.

The state said more than 54,000 non-farm payroll jobs were created last month, following a revised gain of about 17,000 jobs in April.

It was the 55th consecutive month of increased jobs, according to a federal survey of households. Nearly 2 million jobs have been added in the state since the economic recovery began in 2010.

A year ago, California’s jobless rate was 7.6 percent.

California still has a higher unemployment rate than the nation, which also saw a slight jump to 5.5 percent in May.

Five sectors grew in May, including construction; trade, transportation and utilities; professional and business services; educational and health services; and leisure and hospitality.

The occupations with the most help-wanted ads in Stanislaus County are truck drivers (615 ads), registered nurses (469), general maintenance and repair workers (192), customer service representatives (183), retail salespeople (164), supervisors of retail sales workers (149), physical therapists (130), insurance agents (118), sales representatives for wholesale and manufacturing (112) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (109), according to the EDD.

This story was originally published June 19, 2015 at 3:06 PM with the headline "California’s unemployment rate shows slight increase."