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Unemployment rates rise across the board again in July
Unemployment

Whether it was at the local, state or national level, July was another rough month for the labor market.

According to recent preliminary data provided by the State of California Employment Development Department (EDD), unemployment rates rose across the nation. 

The country’s unemployment rate rose for the fourth straight month to 4.5% in July, translating to roughly 7.2 million individuals without work. More than 1,124,300 of those people reside in California, with an unemployment rate of 5.8%, up from 5.3% in June.

Stanislaus and Merced counties were not immune to the bad news. In Stanislaus, the rate rose from 7.1% in June to 7.5% in July, meaning that there are currently about 231,400 people unemployed across the county — an increase of 2,400. Merced’s unemployment rate rose by a whole percentage point from 8.6% to 9.6% during the month, translating to about 11,900 individuals without work.

A main contributor for the lackluster numbers was that the civilian labor force in each county rose significantly throughout July. Stanislaus County saw an increase of 4,500 individuals to roughly 250,000. Merced County’s labor force rose to 124,300, an increase of 3,100 people.

And while some industries are cutting workers amid more competition, there are others which simply lost manpower, as some of the industries currently in most need of workers saw employment levels drop in July. For example, over 200 jobs were lost in the retail trade sector in Stanislaus County last month. Meanwhile, there are currently 805 online job postings in the EDD database.

The job sector with the most losses between both counties was the state education sector in Stanislaus County, with 700 workers lost. During the same period, Merced County had 300 jobs lost between the state and local education sectors. Historically, this sector sees drops during the summer and boosts when school starts up again in August. There are currently 578 online job listings for positions in private education and another 381 in Merced.

The health care and social assistance sectors remain the industries with the most demand for workers. There are currently 1,420 online job listings in Stanislaus and another 340 in Merced.

Those on the hunt for a job can find resources at www.edd.ca.gov/en/jobs.