Jobless rate creeps up in Merced County

The unemployment rate in Merced County in December rose slightly from the previous month but remains down by 1 percent from a year earlier, according to numbers released Friday from the state Employment Development Department.

At 12.8 percent, December’s rate is slightly higher than November’s revised 12.2 percent.

The county lost 1,400 seasonal farm jobs, which is typical for this time of year, according to labor market analyst George Marley. While that was the biggest dip in jobs for the county, he said, it was fewer jobs lost than in the previous five-year average for December.

The trade and transportation industry reported 300 fewer jobs in December than the previous month and the mining and logging industry reported 100 fewer. Several other categories showed job gains.

But compared with the same time last year, there are 2,400 more jobs in the county. The largest growth came from the manufacturing industry, which added 1,000 since 2013.

Of the 11 industries tracked by EDD, only one – government – had fewer jobs in December than it did the previous year, Marley said. “It’s definitely trending in a positive direction, despite the down month,” he said of the employment picture. “The region continues to slowly move along in a positive direction.”

Mark Hendrickson, Merced County director of community and economic development, said economic activity has risen in the past year.

“We’ve seen our local employment figures improve from one year to the next as the economy continues to stabilize, and we’re aggressively pursuing business leads that could create future opportunities for our area,” he said.

The county still has some work to do to bring the jobless rate down, he said. Merced County has been working on economic development strategies to help improve its business climate, Hendrickson said.

The county and each of its six cities have agreed to team up to market the entire region. The plan includes a new website and other marketing materials to promote the cities and county to those looking for a place to build a new business or expand one.

California’s unemployment rate fell to 7 percent in December, state officials reported.

There was some confusion in the numbers. Statewide payrolls grew by only 700 jobs, one of the smallest increases in a long time. It wasn’t immediately clear why the unemployment rate fell so sharply in a month – two-tenths of 1 percent – when job growth was so meager.

Irena Asmundson, chief economist at the state Department of Finance, said she believes there was a statistical glitch in the December payroll job numbers.

Asmundson said, however, that it is clear the economy slowed down somewhat in December. Part of the slowdown was due to the rain in December, which hurt the construction market. In addition, many retailers ramped up for the holidays a month early, shifting hiring from December to November, she said.

The EDD also said it had revised downward the blockbuster November job gains. Instead of adding 90,100 jobs, as previously reported, employers in the state added 82,800 jobs.

Despite the December slowdown, Asmundson said, the economy is still making gains. The professional and business services sector, which takes in a wide swath of the economy, added nearly 111,000 jobs during the year, about a third of the statewide job gains.

The national unemployment rate is 5.6 percent, down two-tenths of a percentage point from November, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This story was originally published January 23, 2015 at 11:34 AM with the headline "Jobless rate creeps up in Merced County."