IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Unemployment in the Inland Empire fell to 6.1 percent in September, as the two-county region added 3,500 non-agricultural jobs month-over-month.
That was down from 7.8 percent exactly one year earlier, and was reportedly the lowest jobless rate the two-county region has recorded since September 2007, according data released Friday by the Employment Development Department.
Local government added 4,800 jobs in the Inland region in September, the most of any sector. Manufacturing added 700 jobs during that month while education and health services added 500, but leisure/hospitality and accommodation/food service both declined, losing 1,400 and 800 jobs respectively, the EDD stated in its monthly report on state unemployment.
Between September 2014 and September of this year, the Inland region added 36,300 non-agricultural jobs.
At least one local economist was impressed with the Inland Empire’s latest economic data.
“Those are very solid numbers,” said Jay Prag, professor of economics and finance at the Drucker School of Management at the Claremont Colleges. “I think we’re beginning to get the benefit of all the the logistics development that’s been happening the past few years.”
Prag believes the region was helped by early imports that happened earlier this year in anticipation of a good holiday shopping season, which added jobs at many of the Inland region’s warehouse-distribution facilities.
“If Christmas turns out to not be as good as some people expect it to be, then those jobs could go away quickly,’” Prag said. “But for now they’re helping us.”
California’s unemployment rate fell to 5.9 percent in September, the first time it’s been below six percent since November 2007. The state has added more than two million jobs since the recovery began in February 2010, according to the EDD.
The U.S. unemployment rate in September was 5.1 percent.
