State Jobless Rate Stays Steady While Riverside County Sees Improvement

Officials say California’s unemployment rate remained steady at 12.4 percent over the past month.

The state’s Employment Development Department released the latest jobless numbers Friday. The data shows that the unemployment rate has now held at or above 12 percent for 15 months.

California saw a net gain of 39,000 non-farm jobs in October, as the state experienced job growth in eight categories. The area of professional and business services posted the biggest gains.

The financial industry suffered the most job losses, while mining, logging and information jobs also were on the decline.

California’s unemployment rate continues to be higher than the national average, which also held steady at 9.6 percent between September and October.

An increase in public sector payrolls helped push Riverside County’s unemployment rate below 15 percent for the first time in three months, state officials reported.

The county’s non-seasonally-adjusted jobless rate in October, based on preliminary estimates, was 14.7 percent, compared to 15.3 percent the previous month, according to the California Economic Development Department.

The rate had been hovering above 15 percent since July.

October’s jobless rate was only fractionally different from the year-ago level — 14.8 percent.

An estimated 133,600 county residents were of work last month, compared to 139,200 in September, according to the EDD.

The combined unemployment rate for Riverside and San Bernardino counties in October was 14.2 percent, down six-tenths of 1 percent from the prior month.

Bi-county data showed the public sector added the largest number of positions — around 7,200 — with the lion’s share of the gains in education, as teachers returned to work for the fall semester.

Trade, transportation and utilities, along with the professional and business services sectors and the health services sector, expanded payrolls by 3,800.

The mining, construction and manufacturing sectors together shed about 1,600 jobs, while agricultural hiring continued, with the farm sector adding 300 jobs, according to the EDD.

The total size of the civilian labor force in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in October was 1,768,200, with 251,300 unemployed.

CNS contributed to this report