State Unemployment Down, Mother Lode Up

Sacramento, CA — The state’s downward trend in unemployment continues, while the Mother Lode’s headed in the opposite direction.

In Tuolumne County, the rate jumped to 7.3 percent from 6.9 percent in December.  Calaveras County saw a slight increase from 6.3 to 6.4 percent in January.

The Employment Development Department has released the January numbers showing a dip from 5.9 percent to 5.7 for the state.  The areas showing job growth include construction, manufacturing, utilities, with educational and health posting the largest gain with 9,500 jobs.  Categories with the greatest losses included mining, logging, financial, and business services, down by nearly 27,000 jobs.

The county with the lowest unemployment rate for a second month in a row was San Mateo sticking at 3.2 percent and the highest was Colusa at 22.4 percent.

The U.S. economy also enjoyed a decrease in January to 4.9 percent. As previously reported, job seekers may gets some help landing a job at the Calaveras County Chamber of Commerce Job and Career Resource Fair on March 10 at the San Andreas Town Hall located at 24 Church Hill Street in San Andreas.