With seasonal shifts keeping statistics in flux, San Benito County’s unemployment rate increased by nearly 2 percent last month, according to data released Friday.
The California Employment Development Department figures showed the county’s unemployment rate at 13.6 percent in December, an increase from 11.7 percent in November, according to the numbers.
According to the data, 3,700 people out of 27,300 in the workforce filed for unemployment in December.
That increase can be attributed at least in part to the agriculture industry’s cyclical nature. Last year in December, the county’s unemployment rate had increased from 13 percent to 16 percent.
As a whole in the state, the jobless rate remained unchanged in December at 9.8 percent.Â
