County jobless rate up slightly

Unemployment in Tulare County remained above 15 percent in December, rising a bit last month over November’s rate.

The state Employment Development Department reported Friday that 174,900 Tulare County residents out of 207,400 in the workforce were employed during the last month of the year.

That translates to a 15.7 percent jobless rate, up from the 14.6 percent rate for November.
That rate was an improvement from a year ago when the jobless rate for December was 16.5 percent.

Still, the slow economic recovery being felt in much of the state and nation has not hit Tulare County or other counties in the Central Valley. The EDD reported California’s unemployment rate for December was 9.8 percent.

The U.S. unemployment rate also was unchanged in December at 7.8 percent. In November, the state’s unemployment rate was 9.8 percent, and in December 2011, the unemployment rate was 11.2 percent.

Nonfarm jobs in California totaled 14,398,800 in December, a decrease of 17,500 jobs over the month, according to a survey of businesses. Nonfarm jobs made up more than half of the jobs in Tulare County — 106,300 — a decrease of 500 from November. There were 4,000 fewer farm jobs reported in December in the county.

Locally, Porterville’s jobless rate was estimated at 14.4 percent, up from 13.3 percent in November. Lindsay’s jobless rate was 19 percent, also higher than November.

Other jobless rates in the county were: Dinuba, 22.9 percent; East Porterville, 21.6 percent; Exeter, 10.4 percent; Poplar, 19 percent; Springville, 14.8 percent; Terra Bella, 39.5 percent; Tulare, 13.4 percent and Visalia, 9.8 percent.

Unemployment rates for other Valley counties were: Fresno, 14.9 percent; Kings, 14.4 percent; Kern, 13.5 percent and Madera, 13.9 percent.