Stanislaus County sees small, seasonal rise in jobless rate
The unemployment rate in Stanislaus County ticked up last month as agricultural work in the region slowed for the season.
The rate in the county rose to 9.9 percent, from a revised 9.6 percent in September, according to numbers released Friday by the Employment Development Department. Still, it remained well below the jobless rate in October of last year, which sat at 11.8 percent.
Statewide, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.3 percent. In California, there have been steady gains since a high of 12.4 percent in February 2010 during the recession. Nationally, the unemployment rate fell in October to 5.8 percent.
California added 41,500 jobs for a total of 15.5 million non-farm payroll jobs last month. Professional and business services posted the largest increase over the month, adding 12,500 jobs statewide. Mining, logging and financial activities were among the sectors reporting declines.
In Stanislaus County, government fields and educational and health services professions saw the biggest leap in jobs in October. Both industries added 600 jobs since September and 900 from this time last year. Construction, manufacturing and farming saw the biggest month-to-month drops, following traditional seasonal hiring trends in those areas.
Surrounding counties saw similar small upward trends in their unemployment rate for the month. San Joaquin County rose to 9.9 percent from 9.7 percent, and Tuolumne County went to 7.1 percent from 6.9 percent. Meanwhile, Merced and Calaveras counties held steady at 10.3 and 7.6 percent, respectively.
Unemployment rates fell in 34 states nationally in October, a sign that steady hiring this year has been broadly dispersed through most of the country. Georgia had the highest unemployment rate in October, at 7.7 percent, though that was down from 7.9 percent in September. North Dakota continued to have the lowest rate, at 2.8 percent.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 21, 2014 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Stanislaus County sees small, seasonal rise in jobless rate."