Rate of nearly 17 percent is more than 4 percent higher than
state’s
San Benito County’s unemployment rate approached 17 percent in
November, a jump of more than 3 percent from October and more than
5 percent higher than the statewide rate.
Rate of nearly 17 percent is more than 4 percent higher than state’s
San Benito County’s unemployment rate approached 17 percent in November, a jump of more than 3 percent from October and more than 5 percent higher than the statewide rate.
The California Employment Development Department last week reported that the state’s jobless rate was unchanged at 12.4 percent in November, while the U.S. rate increased to 9.8 percent. The amount of non-farm jobs in the state totaled more than 12.8 million, an increase of 1,600 jobs over the month.
The county’s unemployment rate of 16.9 percent was up from 13.6 percent in October and 1.3 percent higher than the rate in November 2009. Of the local labor force of 25,800, 4,400 people were out of work in November, according to the state statistics.
In nearby counties, the unemployment rate last month was 12.5 percent in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz, and 12.2 percent in Monterey.
The EDD released the figures a day after Congress voted to renew jobless benefits for 2 million people out of work nationwide.
“Ag has been somewhat buffered from the economy,” said Jess Brown of the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau. “The consumer has cut back on restaurants but not on eating.”
State analyst Jorge Villalobos said, “There’s not a lot of positives,” comparing this year to last year.
Bill Tysseling of the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce said the year-over-year unemployment is “worrisome but also not much of a surprise. We’ve known that construction, retail and leisure have been hit hard by the recession.”
Though retail and leisure are showing signs of a turnaround, “employers are understandably cautious about adding new workers and increasing wages,” he added. “The theme of most conversations at chamber meetings and events is the need to stay strong for another couple of years in the face of unacceptably high unemployment rates.”
He sees improved prospects for export and preference for re-use as trends that present opportunities for local businesses.
Meanwhile, the new tax legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama last week includes a reauthorization of federal unemployment extension benefits for another 13 months.
While the legislation does not adds to the current maximum of up to 99 weeks of benefits available, it does adds more time for eligible unemployed workers to be able to collect those maximum benefits while trying to secure a job.
More than 250,000 unemployed workers in California faced possible interruptions in their unemployment benefits this week if the new federal legislation wasn’t enacted by Dec. 18.
Pinnacle wire services contributed to this report.
