State And Mother Lode Jobless Rates Fall

ED chart

Sonora, CA – In announcing that California’s unemployment fell to 5.4% from 5.8% in January, state employment officials reported that none of the state’s 11 industry sectors lost jobs in February.

Another 138,100 jobs were added in the second month of this year, accounting for more than 20% of all employment gains nationally. New data released Friday by the Employment Development Department (EDD) also showed that the state regained 87.2% of the jobs that it lost in March and April of 2020 due to the pandemic.

Governor Gavin Newsom boasted, “These latest numbers show that California is continuing to drive our nation’s job growth.” He added, “We’re doing it by promoting more pathways to opportunity and embracing the diversity, creativity, innovation, and determination that breeds success—building a California for all.”

The Mother Lode numbers followed that downward trend. Tuolumne dropped from 6.1% in January to 5.4%, leaving 1,080 unemployed out of a workforce of 19,990. Calaveras decreased from 4.7% in the first month of the year to 4% in February, with 870 remaining unemployed out of a 21,550-labor force.

With no jobs lost in the state’s 11 industry sectors during the month of February, the largest gains were made in the leisure and hospitality sectors, adding 30,400 jobs. That increase was fuelled by Los Angeles County, which accounted for 44% of all state job gains.

It is unclear how California’s soaring gas prices will impact its economy, as Friday’s survey was taken before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.