Riverside County’s jobless rate falls to four-year low

For the first time in nearly 4 1/2 years, RiversideCounty’s unemployment rate dipped below 10 percent, state officials reportedtoday.

The county’s non-seasonally-adjusted jobless rate in April, based onpreliminary estimates, was 9.6 percent, compared to 10.5 percent in March,according to the California Employment Development Department.

The rate was two percentage points below the level of April 2012, whenunemployment stood at 11.6 percent.

The last time Riverside County’s unemployment rate was below 10 percentoccurred in November 2008, when it was 9.9 percent, according to EDD data. Thedeepening recession drove the figure to as high as 15.2 percent in August 2010,where it peaked and afterward began a languid descent.

According to EDD figures, the civilian labor force last month numbered941,700 people, with 90,200 out of work.

The unincorporated community of Cabazon had the highest unemploymentrate countywide, at 24.5 percent, followed by Mecca at 19.5 percent andHomeland at 19.1 percent, according to the EDD.

The combined unemployment rate for Riverside and San Bernardino countiesin April was also 9.6 percent, down from 10.5 percent the prior month.

Bi-county data indicated payrolls expanded in all but five sectors ofthe regional economy. The largest increase was in professional and businessservices, where around 2,900 positions were added. Farming, trade,transportation and utilities, financial services and uncategorized industriesaltogether added another 1,700 jobs.

Payrolls shrank in the public sector, leisure and hospitality,educational and health services, construction and manufacturing. which shed atotal 3,100 jobs last month, with the hospitality sector leading the way down,accounting for 45 percent of the loss.

The state’s non-seasonally-adjusted jobless rate in April was 8.5percent, according to the EDD.