While California’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.4 percent in July, San Benito County’s rate climbed slightly to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in June, according to the California Employment Develoment Department (EDD). The local jobless rate is 2.1 percent lower than this time a year ago, when the rate was 9.8 percent in San Benito County and 8.7 statewide. The information was obtained from a federal survey of 5,500 California households.
Meanwhile, the United States’ unemployment rate increased in July to 6.2 percent.
Non-farm jobs in California were just shy of 15.5 million in July, an increase of 27,700 month-to-month. The numbers were derived from a survey of 58,000 California businesses. The year-over-year change in the state shows an increase of 323,600 jobs, a 2.1 percent jump.
The federal survey of households shows a decrease in the number of employed people in California, according to an EDD release. It estimates the number of Californians holding jobs in July was 17,209,000, a decrease of 31,000 from June, but up 283,000 from the employment total in July of last year. The number of people unemployed in California was 1,371,000 — down by 8,000 over the month and a decrease of 306,000 compared to July of 2013.
To read the full release from the EDD, click here.