Unemployment drops to 10 percent in Sonoma County
Published: Friday, June 18, 2010 at 12:24 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, June 18, 2010 at 12:24 p.m.
The Sonoma County economy showed increasing strength in May as the jobless rate sank to its lowest level since September and employers added jobs for the fourth straight month.
The county's unemployment rate fell to 10 percent in May, down from 10.6 percent in April and 11.4 percent in March, a 27-year high.
Even with the improvements, the labor market remained weaker than a year ago when the jobless rate stood at 9.4 percent, according to state figures released Friday.
But analysts expressed hope that unemployment had finally crested after doubling over the past two years.
“We still have a way to go to bring the unemployment rate down to more typical levels,” said Ruth Kavanagh, labor market consultant for the state's Employment Development Department. “But it is on a downward trend and that is good.”
Unemployment typically declines in the spring. But this year, the magnitude of the decline between April and May was three times larger than normal, Kavanagh said.
The economy has added 4,400 jobs since February — including 2,600 jobs between April and May alone, its best showing since last September. It marks the first time in three years that employers have expanded their payrolls for four consecutive months.
The federal government was the single biggest source of new jobs in May, adding 600 workers. Restaurants, hotels and other hospitality employers added 500 jobs as they prepared for the summer tourism season. Construction companies, which have been hammered in the economic downturn, added 400 jobs.
Much of the growth appears to be fueled by the ramp up for the U.S. Census and by federal stimulus money, said Robert Eyler, who heads the Center for Regional Economic Analysis at Sonoma State University.
The county government, for example, is just beginning to spend $6.4 million in federal stimulus money earmarked for road improvements. The money will eventually help repave 47 county bridges and several highways, including current work on Guerneville and Mark West Springs roads.
There were still 25,600 job-seekers unable to find work in Sonoma County in May, but the number declined for the second straight month and slipped to its lowest point since September.
Some may have stopped looking for work and are no longer counted as unemployed. But jobs are being created faster than the ranks of the unemployed are shrinking, a dynamic that suggests workers who fell out of the labor force are returning, Eyler said.
“That's good positive movement,” he said.
The real significance of Friday's unemployment data will only be revealed in time, said Ben Stone, director of Sonoma County's Economic Development Board, but he was hopeful the unemployment figures would continue to improve.
“It would be great to see three months of improvement to really see something as a trend,” he said. “We're headed in the right direction.”
Recent gains in national consumer confidence bode well for Sonoma's wine and tourism industries, he said.
Despite the good news, Sonoma's unemployment rate is still above the nation's, which was 9.3 percent in May, unadjusted for seasonal factors, up from 9.1 percent a year ago.
But local figures were better than California as a whole. The state's unemployment rate was 11.9 percent in May, unadjusted for seasonal factors, up from 11 percent in 2009.
In Mendocino County, unemployment fell to 10.8 percent in May, down from 12.0 percent in April but up from 10.0 percent a year ago.
In Lake County, the jobless rate sank to 17.1 percent in May, down from 18.6 percent in April but still higher than a year ago, when it was 14.7 percent.
In Napa County, the unemployment rate fell to 9.0 percent in May, down from 9.9 percent in April but up from 8 percent a year ago.
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