Merced tallies nine straight months of new manufacturing jobs

Continued job gains in manufacturing pushed Merced County’s unemployment rate down 1 percent in March compared with the same time last year, according to job market analysts.

March tallied an unemployment rate of 12.5 percent in Merced County, which is the lowest for this time of year since 2007, the state Employment Development Department said Friday. The county added 1,200 manufacturing and 900 government jobs in that time.

“With the ag season around the corner, hopefully the (manufacturing) sector will continue to see positive growth,” market analyst Steven Gutierrez said.

March was the ninth straight month that the manufacturing sector saw year-over-year growth. The “education and health services” sector also added 300 jobs compared with last March.

That said, Merced County’s jobless rate remains far higher than the state rate of 5.4 percent and national rate of 5.1 percent.

“Your Valley communities, not only Merced, are always going to be higher not only than the state but the federal averages,” Gutierrez said.

The trade and professional sectors each lost 200 jobs in March, compared with the same time last year.

In Merced, 14,400 people were out of work in March. The 12.5 percent rate remained unchanged from February’s revised rate.

California’s unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent in March despite tepid payroll job growth, state officials said Friday. It’s the lowest unemployment rate since July 2007.

The EDD said the statewide unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percentage point compared with February. Non-farm payroll jobs grew by a relatively small 4,200 jobs, however.

The unemployment rate and payroll statistics are based on two separate surveys, and most economists put more faith in the payroll data as an accurate gauge of the economy’s health.

By any measure, however, the job market has improved in the past year. California employers have added 420,800 payroll jobs since March 2015, a growth rate of 2.6 percent. Statewide unemployment has fallen 1.2 percentage points in that time.

Sacramento’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.4 percent in March, despite an increase of 4,600 payroll jobs. The four-county region has gained 21,800 jobs in the past year, a 2.4 percent increase.

This story was originally published April 15, 2016 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Merced tallies nine straight months of new manufacturing jobs."