California’s unemployment rate rose to 5.4% in October, according to figures released Friday from the Employment Development Department. The increase from September was a slight +0.1%. Notably though, California’s unemployment rate is now the highest since the pandemic.
The jobless rate also stands in contrast to the nation’s, which is at a historically low 4.1%. California actually saw a decrease in non-farm payroll jobs in October, which contributed to its poor showing. Around 5,500 jobs were lost.
Overall, the nation’s post-pandemic recovery has outpaced California’s. As the Public Policy Center of California (PPIC) notes, this is largely due to lagging job growth in the information sector, professional/scientific/informational services, and finance.
“Notably, the unemployment rate has recently increased slightly for women. As of last quarter, women’s unemployment rate was nearly identical to men’s even after having been notably lower for almost two years,” according to PPIC. “Latino and Black Californians have the highest unemployment rates across major racial/ethnic groups; the rate among Latinos has increased notably in the past two years. White and Asian Californians have lower unemployment rates, but unemployment of white workers has gone up recently as well.”
A table showing October unemployment rates by county can be found here.
Imperial County has the highest unemployment (19.6%). The lowest unemployment rate is in San Mateo (3.6%).