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March 28, 2014

San Diego County has the 10th lowest unemployment rate of all counties in California, at 7 percent (see chart “Unemployment Rate Historical Trend”). With a total labor force of 1.6 million, 1.4 million people are employed and 111,000 are looking for work. The county with the lowest unemployment is Marin County, with 4.7 percent; the county with the highest unemployment is Colusa County with 25.9 percent unemployment. California’s unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percent to 8 percent in February.

San Diego’s industries added 9,500 jobs over the month, including:

  • Professional/Business Services (+3,200 jobs)
  • Education/Health Services (+3,000)
  • Government (+2,200)
  • Leisure/Hospitality (+1,300) 

Losses were recorded in:

  • Construction (-1,100 jobs)
  • Trade/Transportation/Utilities (-500)
  • Financial activities (-200)

Local March unemployment rates will be reported on April 18.

Additionally, the national unemployment rate in March remained unchanged at 6.7 percent, despite U.S. employers adding 192,000 jobs in March. The jobs added represent the final addition of all the private-sector jobs that were lost during the Great Recession; however, that does not indicate that the economy has fully recovered. Many economists do not see this benchmark as meaningful, but it does indicate that the economy is recovering from the slowdown caused by the cold December and January weather. The sectors with the highest number of jobs added include Professional/Business, Leisure/Hospitality, Construction, and Healthcare.

Veterans are faring slightly better as a group than non-veterans, continuing the general declining unemployment rate trend with an unemployment rate down to 6.0 percent, a decrease of 0.3 percent in the past month (see chart “Veterans vs Non-Veterans”). For veterans age 18-34, the unemployment rate dropped significantly (from 16.6 percent to 14.6 percent for 18-24-year-olds; from 11.4 percent to 6.2 percent for 25-34-year-olds). The unemployment rate increased slightly for veterans 35 years and older. 

Sources

www.calmis.ca.gov/htmlfile/e-newsletter/e-news-2014-03b.asp

www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/apr/04/us-employers-add-192k-jobs-rate-stays-at-67-pct/

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