Unemployment Dips in State, Increases on the Coastside

Written by Dan Abendschein and Jennifer Squires

Seasonally-adjusted unemployment dipped in California in May from 8.6 percent to 8.5 percent, according to figures released Friday by the California Employment Development Department.

However many local cities and counties saw an increase in unemployment figures as those local figures are not seasonally adjusted to account for fluctuations in normal seasonal labor throughout the year. While non-seasonally adjusted unemployment has been dipping throughout the state for several months, in June the figure jumped from 8.1 percent to 8.8 percent.

Dan Stephens, a spokesman for the state's Employment Development Department, said that the disparity in the figures could possibly be the result of teachers and education related jobs that end in June bringing up the non-seasonally adjusted rates.

San Mateo County as a whole saw an increase in unemployment from 4.9 percent in May to 5.4 in June. Half Moon Bay's low non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate of 5 percent in May edged up to 5.5 percent in June. 

The seasonal adjustment accounts for seasonal shifts in labor such as increased construction and agricultural work in spring and summer—only non-seasonally adjusted figures are available for individual cities.

Data from the state indicates that work categories with significant job losses from May to June were construction, information, financial activities, professional and business services and other services.

Regionally, thousands of education positions were lost in June—some likely due to summer break—while job growth in the leisure and hospitality sector surged. 

How to Use the Map

You can see how every city in the state fared in May's report, by clicking on it in the above map.  The blue cities are within 10 percent of the state average, the light green are have unemployment rates at least 50 percent lower than state average, and darker green cities are between.

Conversely, the bright red cities have unemployment rates at least 50 percent higher than state average and the lighter red cities are between.