Yuba, Sutter unemployment rates drop

SACRAMENTO — California's unemployment rate dropped below 12 percent for the first time since August 2009 — another positive sign for the nation's economy.

The figure for April was 11.9 percent, the state Employment Development Department announced Friday, marking the fourth month in a row the jobless rate has declined in the most populous state. The rate has dropped by 0.5 percentage point in a year, from 12.4 percent in April 2010.

In Yuba County, unemployment dropped below 20 percent, to 18.5 percent in April, while Sutter County also dropped, to 21.4 percent.

However, both counties had among the highest rates in the state, and the rates were scarcely different compared to the same month a year earlier.

Colusa County's rate in April was 21.1 percent.

California payrolls showed an overall increase of about 8,900 jobs for the month.

Six industry sectors added jobs, with the biggest bump coming in leisure and hospitality, which added 12,400. Five sectors saw declines, with the largest drop of 11,200 jobs in government.

Stephen Levy, chief economist for the Palo Alto-based Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy, said the job growth was modest and weakened by the loss of a combined 4,500 jobs in finance and construction, two sectors that have been hit hard by the housing bust and waves of foreclosures,

Still, the added jobs represented just a tiny slice of all jobs in the California economy. The state had slightly more than 14 million nonfarm payroll jobs in April, according to a survey of businesses, and that number has increased by only about 1 percent, or 144,400 jobs, since April 2010.

Employment data can be contradictory and confusing because it is based on data collected in different ways from both employers and households. In addition, data on the jobless rate can vary when jobseekers leave the workforce to go back to school or because they become discouraged, which complicates interpretation of a changing unemployment rate.

Nationwide, unemployment rates fell in 39 states in April, and employers added workers in 42 states.

Businesses in the U.S. have added more than 250,000 jobs a month, on average, in the past three months, the fastest hiring spree in five years. The U.S. unemployment rate has dropped nearly a full percentage point since November, but it rose slightly in April to 9 percent.