IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
California’s unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent in August as the state added 36,300 new non-farm jobs during the month.
Employers in California have added more than two million jobs since the recovery officially began in February 2010, according to data released Friday by the state’s Employment Development Department.
The U.S. unemployment rate was 5.1 percent during August.
Month-over-month, the state’s unemployment rate fell only slightly in August, from 6.2 percent. However, it dropped from 7.4 percent in August 2014, as the state added 470,000 jobs during that time, a three percent increase.
More than 1.1 million people in California last month were unemployed, down 17,000 from July and down 222,000 year-over-year, according to the data.
“It’s a good report,” said Jay Prag, professor of economics and finance at the Drucker School of Management at the Claremont Colleges. “You have to be a little careful about jobs that are added this time of year, because a lot of them are related to the holidays and they can go away if the holiday season doesn’t go well. But on the overall, it’s a solid report.”
Several sectors posted strong jobs gains last month, including information, leisure and hospitality and trade, transportation and utilities. The government sector posted the largest gains, adding 31,300 jobs, according to the development department.
Professional and business services and manufacturing lost 11,200 and 7,100 jobs respectively, the two major sectors that posted the largest job losses last month.
Riverside and San Bernardino counties recorded unemployment rates of 7.0 and 6.5 percent respectively in August, according to the development department.
California’s unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,500 households.
