California Unemployment Rate For December Ticks Up Slightly

California Unemployment Rate

Sonora, CA – The state and Mother Lode saw a slight unemployment increase in the last month of the year.

California’s unemployment rate increased to 5.1 percent in December as employers added 23,400 nonfarm payroll jobs to the economy, according to recent data released by the Employment Development Department (EDD) from two surveys. The department noted that the state’s December job gain accounted for 10.8 percent of the 216,000 overall job gains for the nation. This marks twelve consecutive months of job gains in 2023.

The Mother Lode’s December rate also climbed, with Tuolumne and Calaveras County rising by .3 percent each. In Tuolumne County, the rate rose from 5 percent in November to 5.3 percent last month, which is higher than the state’s numbers. Calaveras County’s rate remains lower than the state’s at 4.5 percent for December, up from 4.2 percent in November.

Private Education and Health Services added 13,200 new jobs in December, followed by government (8,100) and leisure and hospitality (7,100). The industry with the biggest job loss was professional and business services at 3,800, mostly due to reductions in employment services.

The national jobless rate is 3.7 percent, after adding 216,000 jobs last month.