Local unemployment up slightly | California jobless rate increases as new jobs added

Local unemployment up slightly

California jobless rate increases as new jobs added

Local unemployment rates rose slightly after trending downward in recent months, according to data released by the state Friday.

Every local municipality saw a slight jump in joblessness from April to May, but unemployment is still significantly down year-over-year.

Barstow maintained the lowest unemployment rate among the High Desert's larger communities with a rate of 5.9 percent. It was the only large local community with a jobless rate lower than the San Bernardino County average of 6.3 percent.

Barstow's May unemployment was slightly higher than its 5.7 percent rate in April but was still lower than the 6 percent reported in March. Other High Desert communities saw a similar trend, rising slightly from the previous month but still reporting better numbers than March.

Apple Valley and Victorville were tied for the lowest unemployment rate among the Victor Valley's four major municipalities at 6.7 percent — but each city's rate was two-tenths of a percentage point higher than the previous month. Hesperia (8.6 percent) was also up slightly from April.

Adelanto's jobless rate was the highest in the region at 10.5 percent, and Lenwood was the second-highest at 9.3 percent.

Wrightwood, with a labor force of just 2,100, saw a slight increase in joblessness last month, from 2.8 percent to to 2.9 percent.

California's rate increased slightly in May to 6.4 percent, the first such bump in nearly five years, the state Employment Development Department reported.

The figure increased from 6.3 percent in April even as the agency said strong job growth continued in May.

"It looks like the underlying cause is there was a large surge of people into the labor force and the labor market couldn't quite accommodate them all," department spokesman Kevin Callori said. "It's the start of the summer hiring season, so it does indicate there's a newfound optimism,"

The state said more than 54,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were created last month, following a revised gain of about 17,000 jobs in April.

It was the 55th consecutive month of increased jobs, according to a federal survey of households. Nearly 2 million jobs have been added in the state since the economic recovery began in 2010.

A year ago, California's jobless rate was 7.6 percent.

California still has a higher unemployment rate than the nation, which also saw a slight jump to 5.5 percent in May.