County’s jobless rate jumps

A seasonal dip in public sector payrolls and losses ina number of local industries pushed the unemployment rate in Riverside Countyback above 10 percent, state officials reported today.

The county’s non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate in June, based onpreliminary estimates, was 10.2 percent, compared with 9.2 percent in May,according to the California Employment Development Department.

The rate was 2.5 percentage points below the level of June 2012, whenunemployment stood at 12.7 percent.

According to figures, the civilian labor force last month numbered934,500 people, with 95,300 out of work.

The unincorporated community of Cabazon had the highest unemploymentrate countywide, at 25.8 percent, followed by Mecca at 20.6 percent andHomeland at 20.2 percent, according to the EDD.

The combined unemployment rate for Riverside and San Bernardino countiesin June also was 10.2 percent, up from 9.3 percent the prior month.

Bi-county data indicated a sharp drop in government payrolls last month,mainly in local education, as teachers, aides, cafeteria workers and othersemployed at schools throughout the region went on summer recess. Almost 3,000public sector workers were counted as unemployed.

The financial services, health services, construction, manufacturing,leisure and hospitality and uncategorized sectors altogether shed approximately5,000 positions.

Only three sectors expanded — farming, retail trade and professionalservices, which altogether added 4,500 jobs, the largest part of which was inagriculture.

The state’s non-seasonally-adjusted jobless rate in June was 8.8percent, according to the EDD.