State, Inland Empire Job Numbers Continue to Improve

California’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.4 percent in March, as the state added 4,200 non-agricultural jobs during the third month of the year.

That figure was essentially unchanged from February – 5.5 percent – but it represented a drop of more than one percent year-over-year, according to data released Friday by the state Employment Development Department.

California totaled 16.3 million non-farming jobs in March, an addition of 420,800 jobs year-over-year. That data was based on a survey of 58,000 businesses statewide, according to the department’s monthly employment report.

California has added more than 2.1 million jobs since the recovery officially began in February 2010, the report stated.

The national unemployment rate in March was five percent.

Locally, Riverside County’s unemployment rate was 5.9 percent last month, down from a revised 6.9 percent in March 2015. San Bernardino County also showed year-over-year improvement in its jobless rate: 5.6 percent in March, compared with a revised 6.7 percent one year earlier, the department reported.

Nine categories – construction, trade, transportation and utilities, information, financial activities, professional and business services, education and health services, leisure and hospitality, government and “other services” – posted year-over-year job gains in March, according to the department.