Bolstered by job growth the unemployment rate in San Luis Obispo county as well as California as a whole fell in April from both the month before and a year ago April.
The unemployment rate in the San Luis Obispo County was 6.1 percent in April 2013, down from a revised 6.8 percent in March 2013, and below the year-ago estimate of 7.9 percent. This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 8.5 percent for California and 7.1 percent for the nation during the same period.
In SLO County the EDD says there are 4800 more nonfarm jobs in April 2013 compared to April 2012 and 800 more than March 2013.
Strong job growth is seen in the hospitality and business services sectors.
A 6.1 percent unemployment rate in April is the lowest number in several years during the economic downturn.On the street it means 8,800 residents remain jobless compared to 11,200 a year ago, an improvement of 3400 or 21%. Numbers like this represent a real turnaround since the recession hit in 2009. Actual job growth is near 7000 over the past year in SLO County. In the farm sector the number of jobs has grown by 500 or 12.5% over the past year as the ag economy also fared well.
The last time SLO’s April number was this low was 2008,before the tough times hit when it was 4.7%. In April 2009 it hit 8.2% and 9.9% in 2010,9.1% in April 2011 and 7.9% in April 2012. From the trough of the recession the jobless rate has fallen nearly 4 full points.
Across the entire state the unemployment rate fell to 9% and nonfarm payroll jobs increased by 10,400 during the month for a total gain of 756,900 jobs since the recovery began in February 2010, according to data released today by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) from two separate surveys.
The U.S. unemployment rate also decreased in April to 7.5 percent.
In March, the state’s unemployment rate was 9.4 percent, and in April 2012, the unemployment rate was 10.7 percent. The unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,500 California households.
Nonfarm jobs in California totaled 14,602,200 in April, an increase of 10,400 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 (April 2012 to April 2013) shows an increase of 273,100 jobs (up 1.9 percent).
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN CALIFORNIA
The federal survey of households, done with a smaller sample than the survey of employers, shows an increase in the number of employed people. It estimates the number of Californians holding jobs in April was 16,951,000, an increase of 71,000 from March 2013, and up 443,000 from the employment total in April of last year.
The number of people unemployed in California was 1,673,000 – down by 76,000 over the month, and down by 303,000 compared with April of last year.
Beacon Economics says the California labor market added 10,400 new nonfarm jobs in April. These new positions represent a 0.1% increase over March employment levels. While April’s pace of growth is substantially slower than gains experienced in March, it does not come as a surprise given the sustained slow growth we’ve seen across the nation.
Although payroll numbers may have been weaker in April, the EDD household survey showed that the unemployment rate dropped four-tenths of one percent to 9.0%. The bulk of the drop in unemployment can be attributed to 71,000 people moving from unemployed to employed. These numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, however. Large divergences between the payroll and household surveys frequently lead to revisions in coming months. One thing that appears clear is that household employment in California has grown faster than the nation overall since 2003.
The Construction industry led California’s job gains in April, adding 7,400 payroll positions for a 1.2% monthly increase. The recovery of the state’s housing market has spurred demand for new residential units given the low level of available supply. We expect this industry to remain strong in the months ahead.
Except for Government and Professional and Business Services employment, all industries posted modest gains for the month. Because this survey-based data is volatile, it is not surprising to see Professional and Business Services employment down given the strong showing in the last few months. In April, Professional and Business employment contracted by 6,000 positions. Government employment shed another 1,400 positions in April.
April’s employment gains were fairly widespread throughout the state with most regions seeing positive growth. Los Angeles County saw the largest gains on an absolute basis, adding 8,000 new jobs, while smaller areas like Napa (+0.8%), Merced (+0.7%), and Madera (+0.6%) saw the largest percentage gains. The largest job losses were in the San Jose area.