California Unemployment Decreases

In the month of October, the county of San Diego added 11,100 non-farm jobs, which helped to lower the unemployment rate within the county to 9.7 percent. This number is down from 9.8 percent in September and 10.4 percent in October of 2010. These numbers were released by the California Employment Development Department

In October, Riverside County saw a 5,000 jobs increase, which dropped its unemployment rate to 13.7 percent. This number is down from 14 percent in September and 14.8 percent in October of 2010.

The United States unemployment rate in the month of October was 8.7 percent, compared to the California state unemployment rate of 11.2 percent. This number fell from 11.4 percent in the month of September.

“Unemployment seems to have peaked at the end of last year, and it’s slowly coming down,” Paul Wessen, an Employment Development Department economist, said. “I don’t think anybody would be happy about how fast it’s coming down. The fact that it’s starting to decline is part of the recovery process.”

According to the data released by the department, the counties of San Diego and Riverside are adding jobs faster than the labor force is increasing. San Diego County’s workforce increased by 23,700 jobs, a 1.5 percent increase, over the past 12 months. During that same time frame, employers added 33,200 jobs, a 2.3 percent increase.

The most jobs in San Diego County were added in the government as well as the San Bernardino-Riverside county region.

The majority of those jobs came in the public education sector, where schools at all levels were replacing teachers that they lost in the previous couple of years. Some of those added jobs could be lost in the coming months as the state is looking for ways to cut billions of dollars in spending. There were 7,400 jobs added in San Diego County government positions and 7,000 jobs in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

“In that, California bucks a trend,” said Robert Dye, chief economist for Comerica Bank in Dallas. “For many U.S. states, and broader national numbers, we’re seeing public sector jobs at state and local levels are still being cut back.”

The second-fastest growing industry in San Diego county in terms of jobs has been the professional and business services industry. This industry added 4,400 jobs according to the data released by the department. This industry includes temporary office personnel, which means the hiring of these workers precludes the hiring of permanent employees.

“It would make sense for them (businesses) to hire on a temporary basis and keep the best of those temporary workers as permanent employees,” Dye said.

Christa Shapiro is the senior vice president for Adecco, the largest employment agency in San Diego and Orange counties.

“Those two are the ones that get laid off in a downturn,” Shapiro said. “It’s a positive sign for the economy when they bring back human resources people and marketing professionals.”