The unemployment rates in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties continue to be lower than a year ago, but June rates broke a recent pattern by increasing from the prior month.
Despite the jumps, a local economist said the June results were “encouraging,” adding that an increase in unemployment is common from May to June.
In San Luis Obispo County, unemployment was at 8.5 percent, down from 9.6 percent in June 2011 and up from 7.8 percent in May.
For Santa Barbara County, the unemployment rate in June was 7.9 percent, down from 8.8 percent the prior June but up from 7.4 percent a month earlier.
Preliminary unemployment figures for June were released last Friday by the Labor Market Information Division of the California Employment Development Department (EDD).
In southern San Luis Obispo County, Oceano was at 15.8-percent unemployment, Nipomo, 11.3 percent; Grover Beach, 8.3 percent; and Pismo Beach and Arroyo Grande, 8.7 percent.
Among Santa Barbara County cities, the jobless rate in Lompoc remained the highest at 13.9 percent, followed by Guadalupe at 13.5 percent. Santa Maria, the county’s biggest city, came in at 12.3 percent.
In the past 12 months, Santa Barbara County has gained 3,500 nonfarm jobs, a 2.1-percent growth rate. The rate is about even with the state as a whole, which grew by 2 percent.
The largest annual job gains have come from professional and business services — split about evenly between professional, scientific and technical services, and administrative support services.
“The June 2012 employment report ... was encouraging, as the county gained a large number of nonfarm jobs. The labor market is healthier than at the beginning of the year, and healthier than 12 months ago, indicating that the recovery continues to advance,” said Mark Schniepp, director of the Goleta-based California Economic Forecast Project.
The California Economic Forecast did not prepare a similar report for San Luis Obispo County.
Posted Friday July 27, 2012
Via http://www.theadobepress.com/articles/2012/07/27/news/news57.txt
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