Seasonal jobs employ more in Merced County

Seasonal fluctuations in Merced County and the state drove the unemployment rate down in September to 8.2 percent, the lowest it’s been since 2007, according to labor market analysts.

Merced County’s rate was a tenth of a percent lower than the same time last year, the Employment Development Department reported Friday. One of biggest increases was 1,000 new government jobs, many of which were related to schools getting back into session, said Steven Gutierrez, an analyst for the EDD.

“Everything seems to be the seasonal norm,” he said. “We normally see the lowest unemployment rate, for the most part, during this (time of year).”

The new seasonal school jobs, as well as 1,000 more seasonal farm jobs in September compared with a year ago, accompanied increases of 300 new jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector and 200 in the educational and health services sector, the EDD numbers show.

Gutierrez said September’s rate was also the third time this year Merced County has seen a single-digit jobless rate.

The manufacturing sector in September saw 100 fewer jobs than last year, the EDD reported, and the professional and business services sector recorded 400 fewer jobs.

Merced County’s labor force also increased to 119,000 in September, which is 1,900 more than the same time last year. The labor force includes those working and actively looking for work.

Taken together, the state and regional numbers indicate the California economy is continuing to do well in spite of signs of a slowdown on the national level.

Even though California’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.5 percent, employers hired 30,000 workers during September. California accounted for nearly one-fifth of the 156,000 jobs created nationwide. California’s job growth was the second highest in the nation, following Texas.

For the past year, California has created 379,800 jobs, the most of any state and a growth rate of 2.3 percent.

This story was originally published October 21, 2016 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Seasonal jobs employ more in Merced County."