San Benito County’s unemployment rate was up slightly from January to February, the latest figures show.
The jobless numbers released by the California Employment Development Department showed San Benito County had an estimated 6.7 percent of the workforce on unemployment. That’s up slightly from 6.6 percent in January.
The winter figures in San Benito County don’t always tell much of a story due to shifts in agriculture, the primary industry here. Statewide numbers remained steady at 4.2 percent, meanwhile.
The monthly survey of locals in the workforce of 31,700 showed about 2,100 people filing for unemployment. Media consumers might remember February was the month in which the federal government reported just 20,000 non-farm jobs were added for the month, causing a stir in the stock markets.
According to the EDD:
Nonfarm payroll jobs in California totaled 17,322,700 in February, according to a survey of businesses that is larger and less variable statistically. The survey of 80,000 California businesses measures jobs in the economy. The year-over change from February 2018 to February 2019 shows an increase of 222,500 jobs (up 1.3 percent).
