LAKE COUNTY — Lake County residents have lost 990 jobs from November 2008 until last month, springboarding the unemployment rate to 17.7 percent, almost 5 percentage points more than last year.
Typical labor force gains in industries such as retail trade also didn”t pan out for Lake County residents, according to the California Employment Development Department. Retail employment went down by 10 jobs since October and by 80 jobs since last November, a 4-percent drop.
“Usually we see retail jobs go up before the holidays,” Dennis Mullins of EDD said. “That fell off a little bit in Lake County.”
Mullins said the retail job and leisure and hospitality job loss comes as a result of “people tightening their belts.”
Mullins thinks the unemployment hike happened as part of a seasonal trend because Lake County primarily bases its economy on agriculture and tourism, he said.
In the past few years the number of unemployed people has risen and the labor force has dropped from October to November, causing unemployment to jump, Mullins said.
“This recession we”re in is showing statewide and nationally higher percentage and faster job loss rate than any time since World War II,” Mullins said. “And Lake County follows a similar pattern.”
However, financial, real estate and mortgage industries collapsed in most of the country but held strong in Lake County with only 10 fewer jobs since last year, Mullins said.
Manufacturing jobs that typically get sent out of the country have stayed the same at 340 jobs, Mullins said.
Although 90 construction jobs have disappeared since last year and unemployment is high, Mullins said there are positive parts to the county”s economy such as some powerful industries. Lake County”s unemployment also isn”t as high as Colusa County at 22.6 percent or Imperial County”s at 29.2 percent.
Contact Katy Sweeny at ksweeny@record-bee.com or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
