Merced County unemployment falls to 13.5 percent in February

Merced County’s jobless fell more than two percentage points in February compared with the same period last year, according to numbers released Friday by the Employment Development Department.

The addition of about 2,300 manufacturing jobs played the biggest role in pushing the county’s unemployment rate down to 13.5 percent from last year’s 15.7 percent.

“That’s a significant drop,” said George Marley, a labor analyst for EDD. “In the state, all areas are dropping.”

Three other industries – mining, logging and construction; educational and health services; and leisure and hospitality – each had 300 more jobs in February than the same time last year.

The numbers show 1,200 more people were participating in the Merced County labor force, which includes the employed and those actively seeking a job, and 3,500 more were employed in February compared with the same period last year.

February tallied 200 fewer government jobs than the same period last year, amd professional and business services industry jobs were down by 100.

Economic leaders in the county and its cities say they continue to shop out sites to developers in hopes they will draw companies that can provide more jobs.

Frank Quintero, economic development director for Merced, said money the city is able to spend on industrial sites could give it a competitive advantage in drawing development. “It’s all about timing,” he said this month. “How fast can you get them entitled and how fast can the company get their product out?”

Rowena Gray, an economist at UC Merced, said the university, Mercy Medical Center and, eventually, the high-speed rail station will be the biggest long-term economic drivers for the Merced area, which continues to suffer from an unemployment rate that is roughly double that of the state.

California’s overall jobless rate improved to 6.7 percent in February.

The EDD reported that the state added 29,400 jobs in February for a total gain of 1.8 million positions since the economic recovery began in February 2010.

The last time the statewide unemployment rate was 6.7 percent was June 2008.

Eight categories added jobs in February, with leisure and hospitality posting the largest increase – 12,600 – over the month.

The overall number of people who are unemployed fell by 42,000 to less than 1.3 million. January’s unemployment rate was revised to 7 percent.

The national unemployment rate decreased last month to 5.5 percent.

This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Merced County unemployment falls to 13.5 percent in February."