Tulare County's jobless rate on the incline, State rate remains steady
A report released Friday by the State of California Employment Development Department reports Tulare County’s jobless rate as 16.8% for January, up from 15.7 in December and 14.5 in November.
Other local jobless percentage rates in the area are reported as: Porterville, 15.5; East Porterville, 23; Strathmore, 23.8; Lindsay, 20.3; Springville, 15.9; and Terra Bella, 41.5.
Visalia’s jobless rate was 10.6% and Tulare 14.4%.
Statewide, the unemployment rate remains unchanged at 9.8 percent for January.
Nonfarm payroll jobs increased by 1,700 during the month for a total gain of 681,400 jobs since the recovery began in February 2010, according to data released Friday by the California EDD from two separate surveys.
Last year, in January 2012, the state’s unemployment rate was 11.0 percent.
The unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,500 California households.
Nonfarm jobs in California totaled 14,526,700 in January, an increase of 1,700 jobs over the month, according to a survey of businesses that is larger and less variable statistically. The survey of 42,000 California businesses measures jobs in the economy. The year-over-year change (January 2012 to January 2013) shows a 1.8 percent increase of 254,900 jobs.
Employment and unemployment in California
The federal survey of households estimates the number of Californians holding jobs in January was 16,775,000, an increase of 30,000 from December 2012, and up 322,000 from the employment total in January of last year.
The number of people unemployed in California was 1,816,000 — up by 3,000 over the month, but down by 212,000 compared with January of last year.
EDD’s report on payroll employment (wage and salary jobs) in the nonfarm industries of California totaled 14,526,700 in January, a net gain of 1,700 jobs since the December survey. This followed a gain of 8,200 jobs (as revised) in December.
Seven categories — mining and logging; construction; financial activities; professional and business services; educational and health services; leisure and hospitality; and other services — added jobs over the month, gaining 29,300 jobs. Leisure and hospitality posted the largest increase over the month, adding 7,800 jobs.
Four categories — manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; information; and government — reported job declines over the month, down 27,600 jobs. Information posted the largest decrease over the month, down 18,200 jobs.
In related data, the EDD reported that there were 519,632 people receiving regular unemployment insurance benefits during the January survey week — up from December’s 496,500 and down from the 575,895 from last year. At the same time, new claims for unemployment insurance were 68,907 in January 2013, compared with 51,545 in December and 59,344 in January of last year.
