County’s unemployment lowest in state

Rate is up from 2020, but 4.8% makes Marin best for fifth month in a row

Marin County had the lowest unemployment rate in the state for a fifth consecutive month in March, continuing a gradual decline since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic one year ago.

Marin recorded a 4.8% unemployment rate in March, which was lower than the statewide rate of 8.2% and the national rate of 6%.

But labor officials and economists say there is still a ways to go before the county’s job market recovers to pre-pandemic levels. Marin’s unemployment rate for March 2020 was 2.8%.

Marin still has about 8,400 fewer jobs compared to a year ago. Two-thirds of these jobs are in industries most heavily affected by the pandemic closures such as hotels, retail stores, bars and salons, said California Employment Develop

ment Department research data specialist Jorge Villalobos.

“As the months go by we’re improving,” Villalobos said. “Gradually, that number is starting to come down.”

Marin is typically among the top three counties in the state with the lowest unemployment rates, often competing for the top spot with San Mateo County. The unemployment rate is based on Marin residents only. Higher-wage workers whose jobs were not as impacted by the pandemic are able to afford to live in the county while lowerwage workers often must commute from outside the county because of the high cost of living.

Marin has maintained the lowest unemployment rate in California since November. This is the second decline in unemployment this past year, with the county having dropped from a record high of 11.2% in April 2020 to 4.9% in November 2020. The December stay-at-home orders and business closures resulting from a spike in COVID-19 cases prompted the unemployment rate to jump up to 5.6% that month. But the rate has gradually declined each month since, to its current 4.8%.

Marin Economic Forum chief economist Robert Eyler said this steady recovery is expected to continue so long as factors such as a new coronavirus variant causing a spike in cases or further business closures do not appear in the coming months.

“As people start to hear stories about the economy opening up and people traveling and people going back out to eat at restaurants and resuming their normal consumption lives, that’s going to help,” Eyler said. “Whether or not they resume their normal work lives or not I think is still a rolling, open question. We’ll see how that plays out over the summer.”

The local unemployment rate is expected to incrementally drop closer to around 4% by the end of the year, barring any resurgence and return to prepandemic levels sometime in 2022, Eyler said.

Other factors to consider in the coming months that would primarily affect lower-wage workers include rising housing prices, cost of living and gas prices, Eyler said.

Statewide, California reported adding 119,600 jobs in March following 156,100 jobs in February.

“We still have a long way to go, but with over 24 million shots in arms and more kids getting back into classrooms every day, this is the steady progress that we need to bring California roaring back,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement on Friday.

Unemployment rates for Marin County in March 2021:

Marin County: 4.8% Statewide: 8.2% U.S.: 6%

Corte Madera: 7.0% Fairfax: 3.9% Inverness: 7.1% Larkspur: 3.4% Mill Valley: 2.9% Novato: 5.0% Point Reyes Station: 0.0% San Anselmo: 5.8% San Rafael: 4.7% Sausalito: 3.7% Tamalpais Homestead Valley: 4.0% Tomales: 0%

Source: California Employment Development Department