Jobless rate 18% in Yuba County

As California's unemployment rose in October to set another modern record, the Mid-Valley grabbed one of the least enviable distinctions — three of the beleaguered state's worst unemployment rates.

Yuba County's jobless rate of 18 percent tied it for second highest among 58 counties in the state, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday.

Meanwhile, the 17.3 percent rate for Sutter and Colusa counties tied for sixth highest, EDD said.

Unemployment in all three counties is running more than two-thirds ahead of the nationwide rate, which in October broke the 10 percent barrier for the first time in more than a quarter century. Only Butte County among Mid-Valley communities has a jobless level near the state figure — 12.8 percent, 32nd among California counties.

The unemployment rate rose to 12.5 percent in October, even though more than 25,000 Californians found jobs, the employment department said. October's job gains followed 66,000 job losses the month before.

Construction employment in particular continued to lag in the Mid-Valley, as it has since the bursting of the real estate bubble that overtook California for most of this decade. In the Yuba City area, jobs in that sector slipped by 200 in October to 1,800, nearly 1,000 fewer than three years earlier.

One of the few relatively local bright spots was retail employment, which picked up some 100 jobs in Yuba-Sutter from September levels — though the job roll there remained 200 below the October 2008 total.

Retailers "do seem to be picking up earlier for the holiday season," said Diane Patterson, analyst for the employment department's Labor Market Information Division. "It sparks some confidence in others to see more people out shopping, providing jobs for that industry."

Stephen Levy, senior economist at the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, said larger job gains are needed to lower the unemployment rate.

"The best we can say is that like the nation, the magnitude of job losses seem to be declining," Levy said. "This is not a sign that the jobs losses have ended."

The state has lost 687,700 jobs since October 2008, a decline of about 4.6 percent, according to the state's survey of 42,000 California businesses.

Nearly 2.3 million Californians were without work in October. The number does not include the nearly 500,000 workers who have taken low-paying or part-time jobs because that's all they could find, or the 109,000 "discouraged workers" who have given up seeking employment, according to the state.

Job declines have cut across occupations, including construction, manufacturing, mining, logging, trade, transportation and utilities. Information, financial services, professional and business services, educational and health services, leisure and hospitality and government gained 48,600 jobs.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday that California was one of 29 states reporting unemployment rate increases. Only three states — Michigan, Nevada and Rhode Island — had higher rates than California last month.

The rate is slightly higher than in September, when officials reported a jobless rate of 12.2 percent. The state revised the number to 12.3 percent. It was 8 percent a year ago.

The national unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in October, its highest since 1983.

The hardest-hit county in California was Imperial, along the border with Mexico, with an unemployment rate of 30 percent not adjusted for seasonal changes in hiring.

That was followed by Yuba, Alpine and Trinity counties.