Sonoma County's unemployment at 9.5 percent

Sonoma County’s jobless rate rose slightly to 9.5 percent in May as layoffs in manufacturing offset seasonal gains in tourism, farming and construction, state analysts said Friday.

California’s unemployment last month reached 11.5 percent — the highest in modern record-keeping — up from a revised 11.1 percent in April.

While last month’s unemployment rate in Sonoma County was slightly above April’s 9.4 percent, it was down from March, when the county jobless rate hit a 26-year high of 9.9 percent.

Economists said unemployment seems to be leveling off, a possible sign of better times to come.

“It’s too soon to be optimistic, but it looks like the worst is behind us in Sonoma County,” said Steve Cochrane, an analyst at Moody’s Economy.com. “The economy doesn’t seem to be plummeting into an abyss anymore.”

April was the first time in seven months that the county’s jobless rate fell.

“We have to be careful not to get too excited,” said Ben Stone, director of the county’s Economic Development Board. “We can only hope this continues.”

About 25,000 people were unemployed in the county last month, compared to 25,100 in April. Still, the number of jobless is 88 percent above May 2008, when 13,300 people were looking for work. The jobless rate was 5.1 percent a year ago.

The economy created just 400 new jobs last month, compared to a 2,400 in a typical April-May period.

“It’s going to be a slow pace of recovery,” Cochrane said.

Sonoma County lost about 500 manufacturing jobs between April and May as Agilent, Medtronic and other technology employers laid off workers.

In a typical year, manufacturing adds 200 jobs during that period, said Devla Singh, a labor market analyst for the state Department of Employment Development.

The layoffs at Medtronic and Agilent also hit professional and scientific workers.

Farming, construction, retail and hospitality added about 800 jobs since April. But those seasonal gains were well below historic averages.

“We’re seeing better conditions than we saw in the first quarter,” said Dave Ohman, manager at Manpower Inc. in Santa Rosa, which provides staffing and recruitment services. But there are still more job seekers than openings, he said.

Sonoma County’s labor market remains stronger than most areas of the state. Only eight counties had lower unemployment in May, including Napa at 8.3 percent and Marin at 7.5 percent — the lowest in the state.

In Mendocino County, the May jobless rate was 10.2 percent, down from 10.7 percent in April. Lake County’s rate was 15.5 percent last month, down from 16 percent in April.

The highest unemployment rate in the state was 26.8 percent in Imperial County, along the Mexico border.

Overall, about 2.14 million people statewide were looking for work in May, up 73,000 over April.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday it will take time for the state’s economy to rebound.

“A full recovery will not happen overnight. It will take time, which only further underscores the need to continue the economic stimulus measures I fought for in the February budget,” he said. “There is no greater priority right now than to stimulate the economy, create jobs and get California back on the road to prosperity.”

Schwarzenegger has proposed laying off 5,000 state employees, along with billions of dollars in cuts to education and social welfare programs, to address a $24 billion deficit for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

But lawmakers are divided over how to close the gap and could be headed toward another budget standoff, which would further jeopardize the state’s precarious finances.