Counties' unemployment figures worsen

Yuba-Sutter unemployment has climbed to its highest rate since 1993 — with work scarce enough that an annual job fair usually held at the fairgrounds has been postponed.

Christi Dutcher, business services representative for the Yuba County One Stop in Marysville that offers resources for job seekers, said the event usually held in April or May also won't need a site the size of the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds.

"A few jobs are coming in," said Dutcher, "but not enough for a full-blown job fair."

Sutter County's unemployment rate for January was 21 percent, up from 19.5 in December. It was 20.4 percent in Yuba County, an increase from 18.3 percent, according to figures released Wednesday by the state Employment Development Department.

Sutter County had the seventh-highest jobless rate among the state's 58 counties, EDD said. Yuba County ranked eighth.

Colusa County reported the highest unemployment rate at 27.4 percent, edging Imperial County's 27.3 percent. The statewide rate was 13.2 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

Olivehurst resident Carmen Lopez, 38, a supervisor at Pacific Coast Produce in Woodland, will return to work Monday after a week off because of weather-related conditions affecting agriculture.

"It's terrible," Lopez said of the job situation in this region. "I hear about a lot of people looking for a job and there's nothing."

Marysville residents Nicole and Jennifer Corro, 22, who are twins, said Wednesday that they've been looking for work for a year.

"I've just got to move," Nicole said, citing Roseville and Sacramento as cities where it makes sense to relocate. "They have everything out there."

Scarce jobs in Yuba-Sutter are "why everybody decides to go back to school," Nicole Corro said, adding that cutbacks to education have complicated that effort.

January is traditionally a month when unemployment peaks because of the loss of retails jobs after the end of the holidays and weather affecting agricultural work.

"When you're looking at a county where agriculture and food processing is high, you're going to have high unemployment when the crops aren't coming in," said Howard Roth, chief economist at the state Department of Finance. "I would suspect you might be more affected by the recession than some areas. And you might take a little longer to recover than other places that are less dependent on agriculture."

Diane Patterson, EDD labor market analyst for Yuba-Sutter, said 1,800 fewer jobs are here than a year ago.

John Fleming, Yuba County's Economic Development coordinator, said the county tends to lag behind the curve of most economic downturns with the slowdown reaching later in this area — and recovery trailing other regions in the state.

The higher rate of commuting in Yuba County also means that state government layoffs have added to unemployment because of residents who had worked in Sacramento, he said.

Around 50 jobs will be added to Yuba County, Fleming noted, when concrete manufacturer CTU Precast opens in about two months at a site near the Yuba County Airport.

Dutcher said a free career marketing forum, with an expert speaking about networking to find a job, will be held March 19 at the Marysville office, 1114 Yuba St. Registration begins at 9 a.m.

"We're looking to take the strain off of people," Dutcher said. "We see people with degrees — bachelor's, master's — they're out of work."

"Everybody's being hit," she said. "It's really tough right now."

Appeal-Democrat reporter Ben van der Meer contributed to this report. Contact Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appealdemocrat.com