Los Angeles County’s unemployment rate in March dipped below 6% for the first time since October, even as the county recorded a slight drop in payroll jobs, according to state figures released April 18.
The California Economic Development Department reported the county had a 5.9% unemployment rate in March, down from 6.0% for each of the two previous months. However, the main reason for the dip was a significant drop of 22,000 in the county’s labor force to 5.08 million, meaning fewer people were in the labor force looking for work.
Nonetheless, the county’s unemployment rate was still above the 5.5% reading for March of last year. It was also above the March statewide unemployment rate of 5.3% and well above the 4.2% nationwide rate.
The unemployment figures come from a survey of households in L.A. County, while the payroll jobs figures come from a sampling of employer payroll data submitted to the state.
The Employment Development Department also released a breakout of the March unemployment rates by city, though unlike the countywide figure, these rates are not adjusted for seasonal factors.
The county’s two largest cities – Los Angeles and Long Beach – posted rates of 5.7% and 5.2 %, respectively. The EDD data did not shed any light on whether January’s Palisades Fire affected the city of Los Angeles figure.
Among cities with more than 10,000 people in the labor force, Lomita had the lowest unemployment rate in March at 2.6% while Calabasas had the highest rate at 8.1%.
The roller coaster ride continued in March for the number of payroll jobs in Los Angeles County. After a huge seasonal drop in January of nearly 100,000 jobs and a rebound of nearly 30,000 jobs in February, the number of payroll jobs in March fell by 2,300 to 4.76 million.
The EDD also releases a payroll jobs figure that adjusts for seasonal factors. That figure for March showed a larger drop of 7,200 jobs when compared with the 2,300-job decline in the raw payroll job…
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