Jobless rate decreases in Santa Clarita

Unemployment continues to steadily decline in Santa Clarita and nationwide as summer approaches.

The jobless rate in the city for May was 3.7 percent, a 0.1 percent decrease from April, the Employment Development Department reported Friday.

Of Santa Clarita’s 97,400-person workforce, 3,600 were jobless last month.

According to Keri Aaver, director of America’s Job Center of California, this shift toward more employment is common in May and June as employers are hiring for summer jobs.

“The slight tick down I think is fairly common because of summer seasonal hiring,” Aaver said. “We’re going to see a lot of activity coming up.”

With job growth increasing, Aaver said she wonders if employers will be able to fill all their needed positions because so many people are finding other jobs.

Especially in the aerospace industry, there are hundreds of positions waiting to be filled in the region, she cited. She attributes some of this to a shifting of priorities in the federal government toward the industry.

Additionally, she said it may be time for people who left the labor force to begin looking for work again.

“I’m hoping to get some of them into the workforce because there will be more opportunities for them to find work,” she said.

“Now is a great time for them to get back out there. Employers need them.”

In Los Angeles County, the unemployment rate was 4.0 percent, a 0.1 percent decrease from the month before.

California’s seasonally-adjusted jobless rate took a similar dip, as 4.7 percent of the workforce were in search of a job compared to 4.8 percent in April.

The state’s unemployment rate was at 5.2 percent in March of last year.

On the national scale, 4.3 percent of Americans were in search of employment, also decreasing 0.1 percent from the prior month.

The city of Los Angeles experienced 4.3 percent joblessness in May and Long Beach experienced 4.4 percent.

Neighboring cities Lancaster had 4.5 percent unemployment and Palmdale had 5.5 percent unemployment.

Pasadena’s May unemployment was 3.6 percent, Glendale’s was 3.9 percent and Torrance’s was 2.8 percent.